Lowpe (Japan) vs Wargamr (Allies)

[Lowpe]

The Allied Ceylon invasion pulled back, and the 2nd Division and support troops arrived to secure Ceylon. With the success of this operation at Ceylon, I started gunning for AV by expanding the Aleutian operations to take Adak.

[Lowpe]

Wargamr just sent this picture of Adak....

Look at all that supply! [X(]

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe
Thanks, Get[&o]; you have been with me forever and your statistical fact finding is invaluable! It made my ground game very successful in this game.[&o][&o][&o][&o]

Aww, man, greatly appreciated!
This is why I do them, those mindbogglingly tedious exercises

[PaxMondo]

Congrats!!!!

[&o][&o][&o]

[Canoerebel]

I enjoyed reading pages 1 through 8 tonight, which gave me a better feel for how things evolved and devolved (I've been casually reading the AAR for a long time but only seriously in the past few weeks).

Singers falls easily, China is surrendered rather meekly, and you killed some good units at Ceylon. But things are looking fine for the Allies in mid-42, when you post a graphic showing the Aluetians, one small Japanese outpost at Attu, and your note that you have no plans in that theater. Boy did that turn into the decisive meeting engagement. And then there was the Allied debacle at Tabituea. It's your AAR, so from your perspective, but there didn't seem to be any Allied victories to speak of, barring the occasional and relatively small naval strikes in NoPac that were hugely offset by IJ triumphs.

It looks like Wargmr was incredibly passive fighting in the air and that he committed big forces in odd combinations too far forward and without adequate base buildup and nav search capabilities. Huge TFs comprised of DMs and DMSs and stuff that had a tough time against Yamato and friends.

Thus far, I'm not sure I've learned from this exactly what not to do as an Allied player beyond the very general "Don't let this happen!"

[CaptBeefheart]

Congratulations on a job well done! There are a few lessons for the AFB regarding the timing and strength of counterattacks.

Cheers,
CB

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Wargamr just sent this picture of Adak....

Look at all that supply! [X(]

Low forts. I forget. How high were they to start?

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

The VP tally for the last few months

Although during the game I was focused on his naval losses (and constant forward use of the USN in the Aleutians which you consistently made him pay for) as the decisive factor in turning the tide, it seems the land battles had a much larger impact on the VP outcome. I guess I'm curious how much of that is China, and how much is captured bases in the Aleutians and Ceylon (with higher VP cost troops) that the IJN made possible?

The land unit loss ratio is astounding! You lost so few VP for all of the territory gained and troops you destroyed.

Allied LCU losses: 17618
Japanese LCU losses: 474
-----------------------------
ratio ---------------- 37.17 [X(]

While it's not as high a VP total, the ship loss ratio is just crushing!! [&o]

Allied ship losses: 4917
Japanese ship losses: 556
-----------------------------
ratio ---------------- 8.84

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: obvert
Although during the game I was focused on his naval losses (and constant forward use of the USN in the Aleutians) as the decisive factor in turning the tide, it seems the land battles had a much larger impact on the VP outcome. I guess I'm curious how much of that is China, and how much is captured bases in the Aleutians and Ceylon that the IJN made possible?

Chinese starting army is worth roughly 8-9k VPs in standard scenarios. It was not destroyed in its entirety yet, but then revivals brought some new vps into the fray for Japan to harvest. So a guesstimate of about half of the final LCU VPs coming from China is not far off the mark

[obvert]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: obvert
Although during the game I was focused on his naval losses (and constant forward use of the USN in the Aleutians) as the decisive factor in turning the tide, it seems the land battles had a much larger impact on the VP outcome. I guess I'm curious how much of that is China, and how much is captured bases in the Aleutians and Ceylon that the IJN made possible?

Chinese starting army is worth roughly 8-9k VPs in standard scenarios. It was not destroyed in its entirety yet, but then revivals brought some new vps into the fray for Japan to harvest. So a guesstimate of about half of the final LCU VPs coming from China is not far off the mark

Cool. Something I've never bothered to look into since I've never thought about an early AV as a goal. Thanks!

[Lowpe]

A look at the major western Allied ground losses:

Destroyed at Ceylon

18th British Division
100th Indian Bde
44th Indian Bde
16th Aus Bde
17th Aus Bde
99th Indian Bde
45th Indian Bde
98th Indian Bde


Destroyed at Tabby

2nd Marine Division
24th Infantry Division
34th Combat Engineer Rgt
2nd USMC Tank Bn
1st Marine Raider Bn


Destroyed at Attu

27th Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division
193rd Tank Bn


Trapped at Adak

25th Infantry Division
201st(Sep) Infantry Regiment
87th Mountain Regiment
1st/102nd Infantry Battalion
57th Coastal Artillery Regiment
7th Base Group
2nd Marine Defense Battalion
276th Coastal Artillery Battalion
Fort Lewis
6th Port Maint Engineer Battalion
95th Coast AA Regiment
94th Coast AA Regiment
21st Port Maint Engineer Battalion
2nd Pioneer Battalion
110th Cmbt Engineer Battalion
2nd AmphTrac Engineer Battalion
102nd Cmbt Engineer Regiment
154th Field Artillery Battalion
53rd (Sep) Infantry Rgt /2

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

It looks like Wargmr was incredibly passive fighting in the air

I wouldn't say that, he tried very hard....

with respect to fighters:

I got extremely lucky in destroying his entire P38F force on the ground with IJN bombardments before they could fly even one mission. I lost track of the number of times my naval bombardments savaged Allied fighters on the ground....I constantly caught them in the Aleutians, in Burma, in India, in Ceylon. A side effect of naval bombardment against squadrons is that pilot morale gets absolutely shattered....

and when he did manage to fly large sweeps, my low layered fighters answered the call.

with respect to heavy bombers:

Allied heavy bombers suffered somewhat the same getting shattered by IJN bombardments in the Aleutians, and only started to recover over Ceylon in Jan of 43.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I enjoyed reading pages 1 through 8 tonight, which gave me a better feel for how things evolved and devolved (I've been casually reading the AAR for a long time but only seriously in the past few weeks).

But things are looking fine for the Allies in mid-42, when you post a graphic showing the Aluetians, one small Japanese outpost at Attu, and your note that you have no plans in that theater.

Glad you enjoyed it![:)]

Up until the Tabby invasion of May, I was really starting to despair, as I hadn't inflicted any damage on the USN or Army and I was worried that if the Allies wait for Corsairs to arrive it would be very difficult for Japan to see 1945. But I had left the perimeter weak, but the reserves were getting into position to strike back and sigint was promising.

But, in May of 1942 Japan's perimeter was super weak held by lone 9 AV JNAF aviation units or 12AV shipping companies. Port Moresby wasn't taken, Darwin wasn't taken, Luzon was being cleaned up and Ceylon was just recently taken and troop withdraw there just started.

The Tabby Invasion was a complete surprise...I was looking primarily at the Marianas (almost undefended) and also at the Aleutians where Japanese SigInt had given me warnings of a buildup at Kodiak for a long time.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

Congratulations on a job well done! There are a few lessons for the AFB regarding the timing and strength of counterattacks.

Cheers,
CB

Thanks very much, it was a very fun game that could have gone either way![:)]

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

Wargamr just sent this picture of Adak....

Look at all that supply! [X(]

Low forts. I forget. How high were they to start?

They were 5 before relentless bombardments stopped the building. Adak was a tough nut!

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: obvert

ORIGINAL: Lowpe

The VP tally for the last few months

Although during the game I was focused on his naval losses (and constant forward use of the USN in the Aleutians which you consistently made him pay for) as the decisive factor in turning the tide, it seems the land battles had a much larger impact on the VP outcome. I guess I'm curious how much of that is China, and how much is captured bases in the Aleutians and Ceylon (with higher VP cost troops) that the IJN made possible?

The land unit loss ratio is astounding! You lost so few VP for all of the territory gained and troops you destroyed.

Allied LCU losses: 17618
Japanese LCU losses: 474
-----------------------------
ratio ---------------- 37.17 [X(]

While it's not as high a VP total, the ship loss ratio is just crushing!! [&o]

Allied ship losses: 4917
Japanese ship losses: 556
-----------------------------
ratio ---------------- 8.84

Get is right, there is a lot of Chinese LCU left on the map, I never took Changhsha or the base to the north (18 units total), 12 were in the mtns west of Paoshan; another 5 in a dot base east of Sian, a couple at Yenan, several in the mtns on the way to Urumchi (which I also never took), and 15+ around Nannning/Kweilin area.

Earlier I posted the major ground units destroyed at Ceylon, Tabby, and Attu. Plus I got the Burma Div in Burma.

[Lowpe]

Some Misc Notes:

I used Emily/Mavis as deep recon this game a lot! It really prevented surprises especially in the Aleutians.

I used Iboats in an intelligence gathering role primarily. Early on I spotted the buildup of Kodiak... They also did good work at spotting Allied shipping...only at the very end did I use them to isolate Adak. I believe, but have no actual game understanding justification, to think that the Iboats increased/improved Japanese SigInt messages and warnings.

At one point I mention in the AAR that I thought the initial counter strike at Attu was 100% attributed to my reading/understanding of Japanese SigInt and reacting to it very early.

[Lowpe]

Was going to load the game up and take a few end game position pictures, but I see I have to watch the replay all over again! Will do it later once I catch up with Obvert's game.

[Canoerebel]

My "passive" air war comment came from a graphic fairly early on - perhaps May or June of '42 - that showed the Allies had lost something like 500 aircraft total (and Japan a similarly low number). Neither side was fighting in the air, it seemed.

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

My "passive" air war comment came from a graphic fairly early on - perhaps May or June of '42 - that showed the Allies had lost something like 500 aircraft total (and Japan a similarly low number). Neither side was fighting in the air, it seemed.

You are absolutely correct...after a little initial clash there was a big Sir Robyn pullback until May. I did catch most of the Flying Tigers on the ground at Rangoon I recall, but there was no normal cap traps over China in the early war and Burma was quiet. Absolutely no dogfights in the New Guinea area either.

It is interesting to note that Wargamr pulled off an even bigger Sir Robyn against Mr. Kane in their current game with almost 0 losses.