I Have Returned

[Taxcutter]

First week of April.

Taking advice of the forum, I'm herding 4000 range 1000 ton Dutch and Commonwealth AKLs toward Cape Town. It'll take a while. Funnelling ships from India through Diego Garcia. Got two tankers at DG and top them off and they can make the long jump.


Bringing Australian ships through Perth and using an AO to let them safely go to Cape Town.


Converting 12 four pipers to DEs. Nice 8 ASW. Dividing them into "service groups" of three DEs (24 ASW) to escort merchants in and out. See how long AI wants to tangle with these.


Kido Butai ain't hard to find. He keeps bashing away at Canton Island. Smaller CVs are mopping up in the DEI.


I'm dug in at Port Moresby and Noumea.


War of attrition. Let's bleed...

[Jorge_Stanbury]

I prefer to turn 4-pipers into APDs; will help you during your early offensives, before you get any APA/ AKA/ LST

APDs are also good for ASW and their lower cruise speed of 12 knots is not an issue since they are still faster or equal than most merchants

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

I prefer to turn 4-pipers into APDs; will help you during your early offensives, before you get any APA/ AKA/ LST

APDs are also good for ASW and their lower cruise speed of 12 knots is not an issue since they are still faster or equal than most merchants

They are also good for fast transports as well as carrying some supplies to be dropped on the initial invasion turn. You will get lots of escorts soon.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

Yes, but AVDs are better for supply transport

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

Yes, but AVDs are better for supply transport

AVDs are better at forward bases to support Catalinas.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

I prefer to use them as escorts and for invasions; at least early on, the Allies start with several good AVs that I use for places with low risk, and also with many AVPs; they go to forward bases, and I consider them disposable, no issue if they get sunk

[Taxcutter]

Getting the rust off my game. Yeah, I know its a script, but you still have to get these arcane procedures down cold.


April 19, 1942. I think the great headlong retreat is over. I have AI pretty well stopped everywhere.


The furious battle at Canton Island has cost AI the Kaga (torpedoed by a S-boat), the Haruna (hit a defensive mine), a tanker (hit by an S-boat), the Akagi was damaged by a Mk 10 torpedo and hit disappeared from the area. Several marus have been sunk by CD fire and although he has landed 13,000 troops, not one unit seems complete and he's getting nowhere against my level 4 fortification.


As for the great four-piper issue, I massed seven APDs and slipped a IS Army battalion in as Kido Butai withdrew from Canton Island. Just what the doctor ordered at this time. I have just gotten 18 four-piper DEs out of refit and organized them into "service groups" and am moving to drag cargo ships escorted by these service group through areas his subs are known to operate.


Although I'm quite a ways from going on the offensive, I have him stopped at Port Moresby and New Caledonia. Lots of AV, supply, and fortifications will hold the line for now, particularly with a third of Kido Butai out of business.


AI insists on bombing Port Moresby with unescorted Betties, so I'm generating P-39 and P-400 aces and am improving the quality of the RAAF's No. 76 squadron.



To tell the truth Inever thought much of S-boats as defensive units, but they have earned their keep at Canton Island.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Taxcutter

To tell the truth Inever thought much of S-boats as defensive units, but they have earned their keep at Canton Island.

Simply put, their torpedoes actually work!

[Taxcutter]

...their torpedoes actually work.

Certainly so.

The S-boats seem to have more trouble making contacts but they get kills when the can find a target.

I use my Gato boats around the Home Island. Scad of target and lots of contacts bu they'll empty their torpedo rooms getting a hit.

As Manila and Soerabaya fell, a managed to get all but a couple US and Dutch subs out. Most of them are holed up in Perth, but the Asiatic S-boats are splity between defending Canton and working in the Solomons (for now). Their short range makes them a pain and really limits offensive operations, but for a role as "semi-mobile minefields" they work out OK.

My CONUS S-boats are all going to defend Midway.

Offensive sub operations out of Perth, using older US fleet boats and Dutch boats will have to wait til I can get the logistics of Perth under control. Most (75%)of Perth's supply comes from Cape Town and their fuel from Abadan (via Cape Town) but the fact is that perth is a long way from anywhere and its port (at this time) really won't easily handle more than 60,000 tons. As more SeaBees become available I'll address that small port.

[Taxcutter]

After much nail-biting I finally got the California to San Diego. Probably not worth the effort. Ike will be in the White House when this ship gets out of the yard.

Reason for this: I like to keep PH drydocks clear as I can. Between beat-up subs and occasional carrier battles, the PH yards can get overloaded rapidly. So I struggled to get 30,000+ tons of capacity freed up. The WeeVee will have to stay there a while. Too much flotation damage. Maybe by Jan. 1943 I can get her to the East coast or Bremerton.

[RangerJoe]

Get Naval Support built up to repair all minor damage first for the Wee Vee. Then the shipyard should be faster.

The S boats are slower, that is why they have trouble making contacts, especially against faster ships.

Per can get supplies and fuel from eastern Australia by rail if it is needed. Still good to build it up but build the fortifications first so it would be harder for the Japanese to grab.

[Taxcutter]

At this point Perth will not be easily grabbed. I've gotten the 6th and 7th Aus divisions there. Geraldton is solidly held by home guard brigades.

It's a long way from Soerabaja to Perth. I don't think the IJN has that much lift capacity to boot the Auddies out of Perth/Geraldton.

This script is pestering me with nuisance invasions of places he can't hold (Lord Howe Island, Horn Island, etc). He sends surface raids to the Hawaiian Islands. Great training for my USMC dive bombers.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Taxcutter

At this point Perth will not be easily grabbed. I've gotten the 6th and 7th Aus divisions there. Geraldton is solidly held by home guard brigades.

It's a long way from Soerabaja to Perth. I don't think the IJN has that much lift capacity to boot the Auddies out of Perth/Geraldton.

This script is pestering me with nuisance invasions of places he can't hold (Lord Howe Island, Horn Island, etc). He sends surface raids to the Hawaiian Islands. Great training for my USMC dive bombers.

PBYs also can torpedo and at night as well. Just set a carrier above or below the route in and out to train your naval air crews. I sank the Yamato one game with a torpedo from a Devestator (the pilot died doing so), then the next day with three PBY torpedoes, the third day had a Devestator hit with a torpedo which put the Yamato out of my misery.

[jwolf]

... put the Yamato out of my misery.

Not how this is usually put, but I like it better this way! [:D]

[Taxcutter]

Since PH, I have used my PBYs for search and a little ASW. As a result they have low experience and low Low naval attack skill.

Fortunately AI didn't have a particularly big first turn. Sank Arizona and Oklahoma. Badly (over 350 days) damaged California and West Virginia. All the others? Less than 60 days in the yards.

As a result the Maryland was A-OK til the last raid (now she has 40-odd days pierside damage and is at PH. I have six Standards moving to a concentration point at Alameda. I intend to concentrate the Standards at PH - leaving Nevada to head up a specialist bombardment group including the Dutch gunboat Soerabaya with her pair of 280 mm guns.

IJN CAs are tough, but a hail of radar-directed 14 and 16 inch gunfire will mow that down. While under repqir, I did upgrade the old BBs with radar, but I really don't want to commit them until after the 6/42 upgrade (500+ flak value).

AI's tour of PH got two CAs and one CL beaten up some by the limited dive bombers I have at Pearl.

[Taxcutter]

As for islands:

AI ran a big, honkin' IJA infantry division (the 11th AV >405) into Koumac. I already had the 41st US Army division at Noumea and had begun digging in. I used the 1st USMC Raiders to lure the 11th south, so it is now outside Noumea (where I now have two US infantry divisions, two battalions of armor and four artillery regiments.) Soon as some more troops enter the area, I'll nab Koumac and put the 11th out of supply. The 11th is on good defensive terrain and I need to impose low supply to offset that terrain. For now I'll pummel them with artillery and A-24s.

I have a USMC defense battalion, and Army infantry regiment and a battalion of 6 inch coastal defense guns and lots of supply at Luganville.

Canton is getting stronger. I have run in two US Army infantry battalions and another is on the way. I have another CD regiment waiting to be sneaked in. Supply stocks are more than adequate. AI visits twice a month but Canton is so far from Truk he can't stay there very long.

AI did nab Diego Garcia just after some of my little AKLs sailed for Capetown. Again these troops are a LONG way from support and the brits will get them.

As soon as the SeaBees get the port at Midway up to level 4, I'll pull them out and put in another CD regiment. By then, my mine pools should be deep enough to strengthen to over 500. By May, it should be a tough nut to crack.

My CVs are still at san Diego training air crews and upgrading the ships. When I ran the CVs back to San Diego a IJN sub hit Lexington 11 times and sank her. (How did a single sub get by 8 of my most modern DDs and hit her ELEVEN times?) So I'm not too offensively minded right now.

I have completed my four-piper upgrades. Two became APDs and the rest became DEs (ASW=8).

[Taxcutter]

Mini-Midway in the Coral Sea

May 10-13

The aggressive AI script gave up on surface raiding the Hawaiian Islands. I have beaucoup search aircraft up and spotted him. I don't yet have enough to meet him head-on so I pulled everything into Pearl and left the AI to consider the guns of Fort Kamehameha. His fuel ran out and he withdrew to the west.

The AI put 12,000 troops onto Canton Island but he is nowhere near able to eject me. I have 20% higher AV and am running reinforcements in. I got two battalions of the 102nd regiment in and the third wait at Pago Pago. I'm running in the 54th CD regiment. Those big CD regiments are murder on assault transports. Mine fields help as do level four fortifications. Swarms of S-boats make it an unhealthy place for Kido Butai. I do maintain AS on Pago Pago and Palmyra Island to keep the S-boat swarm dense.

I am grinding down his infantry division of New Caledonia.

So the AI shifts his attention west. Port Moresby has more infantry than his little force can handle and I've been running in assets to hold onto it. Three Australian brigades, some US artillery and flak, an engineer regiment and some small base forces aggregating about 100 plane support. Plenty of supply to stand off a siege.

Up until now his CVEs and CVLs have been aiding in cleaning up the DEI and PI. He has escorting Zeros for carrier strike planes hitting helplessly abandoned garrisons. I fugure the script is building up experience and land bombing skills.

So now he shifts these and some surface assets to Rabaul and swoops into Port Moresby and (more importantly) Brisbane. Unfortunately for the AI these are hornets' nests of my (dubious) USAAF and RAAF fighters. All P-40E and P-39D with pilots of ~50 EXP and ~55 Air skill. Roughly 90 fighters at Port Moresby and 125 at Brisbane. I don't have enough base forces yet to spread them out much. I have good search forces (B-17D, B-17E, Catalinas, and Hudsons) so I saw him coming. So I reset the fighter squadrons to 90% CAP, 10% training, and max range of 0.

His strike hit Brisbane and got hit by 110 fighters at altitude = 15000. My fighter lost only about the same as the Zero losses. (Not the IJN varsity I figure). But the P-39s and P-40s massacred the Kates and Vals. By time he passed Brisbane and headed for Sydney he was out of strike planes. Good thing - I had no fighters at Sydney.

Same thing on a smaller scale at Port Moresby. Even up against the Zeros and crushed the strike planes.

In this whole fracas I lost only about six fighter pilots. Range at Zero means they parachute back onto their own bases where the IJN pilots are gone for good. Airframe losses were not a problem as both bases are well-supplied and the airframe replacement pools are very deep.

It's a long way from Rabaul to Sydney so the TF retired to the north and a second phase opened up.

AI was attempting an amphibious invasion at Port Moresby at the same time I was running the Aus 22nd brigade in. Escorting cruisers on both sides ignored each other and slaughtered transports. My cruisers (CA Pensacola and CL St Louis) sank five transports and a bunch of ground-pounders but the IJN cruiser Mikuma got the transports carrying the 22nd brigade. I really wanted the 22nd alive into PM, but now they are fish food. AI put a few ground-pounders ashore (composition indeterminate at this time but my hold on PM is not immediately threatened.

Most of my US Army troops are tied up on New Caledonia, so I'll have to spend some political points and activate some more Aussies.

WitP-AE is like real war. Turns and turns of boredom and moments of furious action.

[Canoerebel]

Hey, Taxcutter, thanks for posting the AAR. I'm glad you've joined the community. I have a prediction to make.

If you continue to find the game involving "turns and turns of boredom," you'll leave it soon enough.

If you come to find that every turn is exciting, whether there's combat action or not, you'll stay. I love every single turn of the game, because I'm planning so far ahead, and taking the little steps that turn into big things in three months or a year, and watching things happen, and trying to gauge what my opponent is up to, etc.

Some people find backpacking the Appalachian Trail extremely boring and tedious. They stick in ear buds and listen to music. For most of us, the chance to think and study and mull and observe and relish the thought of the next cold spring or lunch or break on the top of the mountain means there's never boredom. Ever.

Different strokes.

[Cheesesteak]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Hey, Taxcutter, thanks for posting the AAR. I'm glad you've joined the community. I have a prediction to make.

If you continue to find the game involving "turns and turns of boredom," you'll leave it soon enough.

If you come to find that every turn is exciting, whether there's combat action or not, you'll stay. I love every single turn of the game, because I'm planning so far ahead, and taking the little steps that turn into big things in three months or a year, and watching things happen, and trying to gauge what my opponent is up to, etc.

Some people find backpacking the Appalachian Trail extremely boring and tedious. They stick in ear buds and listen to music. For most of us, the chance to think and study and mull and observe and relish the thought of the next cold spring or lunch or break on the top of the mountain means there's never boredom. Ever.

Different strokes.

+1

I'd only add this: different strokes can also take the form of AI vs PBEM. There are a lot of great players who exclusively play against the AI. For me, it tends to be a diminishing return. Before dropping, I'd advise giving a noob-friendly PBEM game a try.

[Chickenboy]

Hiya Taxcutter,

Like Canoerebel says-welcome to the game and this community!

Back when I used to play against the AI, I found the first 5-6 months of the war riveting. The breathless action, the flight to safety, the defensive stands that skewered the AI's poorly constructed invasion efforts. All good stuff.

But after the AI shot its proverbial bolt, then the game stagnated. It's not like the Japanese can come up with another fleet carrier on a spur of the moment after KB is whittled down. The AI lacks imagination and is incapable of getting out of its logistical handcuffs once their tide recesses. I found myself slaughtering amphibious TFs with 100,000 troops aboard. I found myself setting up CAP traps that the Japanese airforces repeatedly ran into in senseless headlong slaughter. I found that I no longer had to retreat from historically lost ground. Simply put-the AI no longer provided me a good game.

After initial reluctance, I took on the mantle of a PBEM campaign. It made all the difference in the world. There is no more apt an opponent than another human. I've never looked back and, like Canoerebel, I relish every turn like it's the finest wine or juicy morsel of steak. Every day. It's amazing.

So, when you're ready for it, try a PBEM in one of the scenarios and then consider moving further. You'll see the difference right away. The Opponents Wanted section of the board is a good place to start and still very active. I've been known to do some of these from time to time as well...[8D]