Lowpe (Japan) vs Wargamr (Allies)

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

October 20, 1942

Wowza!

So like you I am a little lost on details in other people's games (just busy life at this end). Do you perchance have an invasion of Adak inbound?

[Lowpe]

The troops are prepped for Adak, but waiting.

The invasion of Great Sitkin (only 2 Allied units) is loading now. The island is the east that is built up Sag something or other will be next (10 allied units there) and then Adak, and perhaps Cold Harbor after that.

Adak has a million mines and CD guns, is overstacked with 45,000 troops so it will take a month of bombardments most likely....but with this new base, it will be a very short range to run bombardments out.

With the KB overwatching,it will be very dangerous for the Allies to send more ships here, doubly dangerous once the local airbases are bombarded into rubble. Some are damaged now, and the naval search and screen should prevent surprises.

My guess is the Allies have moved the deathstar to support an invasion of Ceylon.

[Bif1961]

With two carriers damaged and in port at the Island you just invaded how many carriers does he have left to form an Allied DS near Ceylon?

[Lowpe]

Forward base achieved, American Battleships show up on the screen...The Whale runs takes a mine hit, and then gets punished a bit. Nice for Japanese mines to work every now and then.

[Lowpe]

Plane losses...look at all those lovely beasts destroyed![:)]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

With two carriers damaged and in port at the Island you just invaded how many carriers does he have left to form an Allied DS near Ceylon?

Enough, especially when the KB is in the Aleutians and spotted.

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Forward base achieved, American Battleships show up on the screen...The Whale runs takes a mine hit, and then gets punished a bit. Nice for Japanese mines to work every now and then.

Those BBs are worth a hefty VP haul if the KB is in range.

Have you tried to hit the CVs at all? Do you know for sure it's them there?

Sometimes a good bombardment can get those ships in port too.

[Lowpe]

Solidifying the Wake defense...

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Forward base achieved, American Battleships show up on the screen...The Whale runs takes a mine hit, and then gets punished a bit. Nice for Japanese mines to work every now and then.

Those BBs are worth a hefty VP haul if the KB is in range.

Have you tried to hit the CVs at all? Do you know for sure it's them there?

Sometimes a good bombardment can get those ships in port too.

I am not 100 percent sure the carriers are there, or the Repulse for that matter. I have bombed with the KB after the CV clash long ago, and bombardments haven't hit any ships in port (the base is overstacked with troops).

The Allies are definitely looking at loosing another 40+ units here, plus air losses, plus ships in port. They must be in an absolute panic.

[Lowpe]

You can see from the picture that the raw AV of Chungking is now down below 7,000. When I started bombardments it was over 9,000. On the road heading south to Chungking is another 1,000 AV of IJA troops and HQs and more artillery, while heading north is the strong tank army and artillery train.

Most likely a strong portion of that force will divert to take Kunming and points west, while a fair bit will go to Chungking and start deliberate attacks to start knocking down the forts.

[Lowpe]

The fighter bomber fleet:

In this game Japan has made and will continue to make a large investment in fighter bombers. Currently there are 8 Sentai and 2 Chutai, with no more growth anticipated until 1943 starts and I fail to get auto victory or not.

The A model will be the primary anti bomber FB.
The C model will be more specialized in strafing both ships and ground targets but primarily ground.

The Randy will replace both models on the front lines and extra Nicks will either go kamikaze (no more than 1 squadron) or late game reserve.

I am trying a new to me tactic of LRCAP enemy bases likely to see air transport with Nick A. So for nothing, but I am only doing Chungking. I have hopes of catching something in the Aleutians I think (although, there I will use the A6M3a).

The Nick C primary attribute I like is the use of the Nick D engine rather than the Ha35.

[Lowpe]

Aleutians Oct 22, 1942

Further establish control in the Aleutians. Sitkin invasion force loading; Sag will start loading in probably two days.

Bombardments do well...

Night Naval bombardment of Umnak Island at 169,51

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 17 damaged
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 3 destroyed on ground
P-39D Airacobra: 54 damaged
P-39D Airacobra: 3 destroyed on ground
B-17E Fortress: 9 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
C-47 Skytrain: 24 damaged
C-47 Skytrain: 4 destroyed on ground
F4F-4 Wildcat: 14 damaged
F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed on ground
PBY-5 Catalina: 16 damaged
PBY-5 Catalina: 3 destroyed on ground
B-26 Marauder: 23 damaged
B-26 Marauder: 1 destroyed on ground
B-17F Fortress: 36 damaged
B-17F Fortress: 1 destroyed on ground
F4F-3 Wildcat: 22 damaged
F4F-3 Wildcat: 1 destroyed on ground
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed on ground
P-400 Airacobra: 14 damaged
P-400 Airacobra: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 6 damaged
P-40E Warhawk: 1 destroyed on ground

Japanese Ships
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
BB Haruna

Allied Ships
AMc Industry, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
674 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 1 disabled
Non Combat: 16 destroyed, 64 disabled
Engineers: 9 destroyed, 22 disabled
Guns lost 13 (6 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 17 (8 destroyed, 9 disabled)

Airbase hits 34
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 74

F1M2 Pete acting as spotter for BB Kirishima
BB Kirishima firing at Umnak Island
BB Hiei firing at Umnak Island
BB Haruna firing at Umnak Island

[Lowpe]

Allied minefields continue to take their toll...the lone AMc at Sitkin sweeps a total of 50 or so for the day.

AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Oct 22, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 60 encounters mine field at Great Sitkin Island (163,52)

Japanese Ships
AMc Wa 5

9 mines cleared


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TF 60 encounters mine field at Great Sitkin Island (163,52)

Japanese Ships
AMc Wa 5

11 mines cleared


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TF 23 encounters mine field at Umnak Island (169,51)

Japanese Ships
DD Shiokaze, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
DD Sagiri, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

[Lowpe]

Sag will lose the 147th Sep...and 10 other units.

Night Naval bombardment of Sagigik Island at 165,52

Japanese Ships
CA Aoba

Allied ground losses:
89 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 9 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Guns lost 2 (1 destroyed, 1 disabled)

F1M2 Pete acting as spotter for CA Aoba
CA Aoba firing at 147th(Sep) Infantry Regiment

[Lowpe]

Adak port gets bombed by Vals at 16K,

Disappointing, Haven't spotted the Yank CVs in two days. I don't see how they could have escaped notice. Could they have been scuttled? I have gotten lots of scuttled messages in the sunk ship list on tracker.


Allied Ships
DD Anderson, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
AO Tippecanoe, Bomb hits 4, on fire, heavy damage
AO Sepulga, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
ACM Bush, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS Whale, Bomb hits 3, and is sunk
ACM Colonel Niles, Bomb hits 2, on fire
ACM Sage, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
SS Haddock, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
AM Starling, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

[Bif1961]

Check you points for sunken ships if they scuttled and they are normally worth 350ish you should see a jump to the sunk ships points, even though he saves some for scuttling. If no sudden jump in points they may still be out there somewhere.

[Lowpe]

The British come hot and heavy in air sweeps, to meet a low layered CAP...and get eaten alive. Pivotal to the Low Layered tactic is radar air warning.

[Lowpe]

The last serious defense of the southern Chungking route is destroyed, with over 500 Chinese Squads destroyed.

The southern army will split with adequate forces heading towards Kunming.

Kweiyang is only defended by one Chinese unit, the rest having just been savaged.

I am expecting Chungking to fall within 21 days of the first attack.

[Lowpe]

Another fruitful day in the the great north pacific, where 46 Allied units face destruction. Sitkin invasion force is at sea, Sag invasion force is loading.

Bombardments continue:

TF 60 encounters mine field at Great Sitkin Island (163,52)

Japanese Ships
AMc Wa 5

15 mines cleared


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TF 60 encounters mine field at Great Sitkin Island (163,52)

Japanese Ships
AMc Wa 5

16 mines cleared


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF 358 encounters mine field at Cox's Bazar (54,43)

Japanese Ships
DMS W-10

3 mines cleared


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Great Sitkin Island at 163,52

Allied aircraft
no flights

Allied aircraft losses
P-39D Airacobra: 4 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 3 damaged
B-25C Mitchell: 1 destroyed on ground
P-40E Warhawk: 3 damaged
OS2U-3 Kingfisher: 5 damaged
SBD-2 Dauntless: 2 damaged

Japanese Ships
CA Kako
CA Kinugasa
CA Aoba

Allied ground losses:
173 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 3 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 10 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 4 disabled

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 18
Port hits 6
Port supply hits 2

E7K2 Alf acting as spotter for CA Kako
CA Kako firing at 53rd (Sep) Infantry Regiment
E13A1 Jake acting as spotter for CA Kinugasa
CA Kinugasa firing at Great Sitkin Island
CA Aoba firing at Great Sitkin Island


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Sagigik Island at 165,52

Japanese Ships
BB Hyuga
BB Yamashiro
BB Kirishima
BB Hiei
BB Haruna

Allied Ships
AE Ruth Alexander, Shell hits 4, on fire
AE Henry S Grove, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
AM Skylark, Shell hits 1
xAK Makena, Shell hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Allied ground losses:
696 casualties reported
Squads: 0 destroyed, 0 disabled
Non Combat: 9 destroyed, 24 disabled
Engineers: 5 destroyed, 15 disabled
Guns lost 5 (1 destroyed, 4 disabled)
Vehicles lost 15 (4 destroyed, 11 disabled)

Airbase hits 10
Airbase supply hits 8
Runway hits 59
Port hits 19
Port supply hits 5

E8N2 Dave acting as spotter for BB Hyuga
BB Hyuga firing at Sagigik Island
BB Yamashiro firing at Sagigik Island
BB Kirishima firing at Sagigik Island
BB Hiei firing at Sagigik Island
Massive explosion on AE Ruth Alexander
BB Haruna firing at Sagigik Island



The Ruth Alexander had a fascinating career, in WW1 a supply ship for the Kaiser: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Sierra_Cordoba_(1913)

[Lowpe]

Losses in the air today.