"Bakayaro!" DBB-C vs LST(A) Jpn AAR: Feb 43 Summary

[IdahoNYer]

After taking a few weeks to refresh after our last game, we're about to set forth on our next venture...swapping sides! Very much looking forward to playing Uwe, Large Slow Target, again! Maybe we can knock this one out in less than 6yrs? Probably not....

The "Bakayaro" is me....Adm Goto's alledged last words at Cape Esperence seem very appropriate to one who actually WANTS to try and play the Japanese side in a DBB-C with PDU-off! Last Jpn PBEM I played was back with the original WiTP, so I've been reading up on a number of wonderful AARs from folks like Mike Soli, Greyjoy, fcharton and FeurerKrieg to name but a few.


So, we'll have the same conditions we had last go-round:

DBB:C / Da Big Babes-C with stacking, Scenario 29 Dec 8th Start - prefer the 8 Dec start as it sets the war conditions and gives a pretty good blow to PH.

Beta: Latest version

REALISM OPTIONS
FOW ON
Advanced weather ON
Allied damage control ON
PDU OFF
Historical first turn OFF
Dec 7 surprise NA
Reliable USN torps OFF
Realistic R&D ON
No unit withdrawals OFF
Reinforcements +/- 60 (this provides the most variables which to me is a plus)

GAME OPTIONS
Combat reports ON
Auto sub ops OFF
TF move radius ON
Plane move radius ON
Facilities expand OFF
Auto upgrade ships and airgroups OFF
Air and ground replacements OFF
Turn cycle: 2 day Turn - This does a couple of things. First, it moves the game forward a bit more rapidly than daily turns. But also, it puts a little caution into both players and actually slows the tempo of operations for both sides - which also enhances the realism.

House Rules - with the intent of realism wherever possible, and what we had last game:
No 4e naval bombing below 10k
Dot base invasion/paradrops
Restricted units must pay PPs to cross national borders; Thai allowed to go to Burma, Indian restricted, less Eastern Army, must pay PP to leave India.
Sweeps at 2nd best maneuver band
Night AF/Port bombing limited to 1 unit per base through 12/42, 2 in 43, 3 in 44 and 4 in 45.
No strat bombing into or out of China till '45.
No mass armored "blitzkriegs" - one armor unit in hex if solo, must match with infantry for additional.

Think that's about it. Slowly moving from reading and researching to actually doing the first turn this weekend, so it might be a while before I hit the send button. MTF as I get into it....got initial opening moves in my head, think I've got a good plan for R&D based on Greyjoy's and a naval/merchant production/upgrade plan from the AARs as well. Now to put it into practice!

I have just two goals at this point: Survive until '45 (new Japanese motto to replace "Banzai!" at all levels) and don't break the industry (too much).

Should be fun!

[IdahoNYer]

Well.....started getting the Empire ready for the war today.

The to-do list on turn 1 is truly massive. Just started with some basic admin and housekeeping tasks today for a few hours in front of the computer.

First task was to begin the merchant ship conversions for those ships in port and available to convert. Quite a few that I want to convert are already at sea, or in ports without the needed shipyard.

Here's the list so far:
AKEs: 8 Limas, 4 Adens, 3 Ehime
AGs: 4 Ehime, 4 Gosan, 4 Miyati
AD: 4 Akasi, 4 Ehime
AS: 2 Husimi
PBs: 16 Ansyu-C, 30 Kiso-E, 20 To'su
AMc: 9 To'su, 31 Kiso-E, 10 Ha'chi
ACM: 7 To'su

Then did some naval pilot management....boy...reserve pool is bare! Started some pilot training and began squadron size conversions on the Hosho and Chiyoda. Will leave both in port to continue re-sizing squadrons for a while.

That was about it for today's efforts.

[IdahoNYer]

Will resume admin tasks tomorrow with Army pilot management, setting up the initial convoys, and then get into air R&D time permitting.

R&D will be my biggest challenge in the PDU-off setting.

Here's my initial plan, based off of Greyjoy's plan in his AAR - comments Welcome!!!

Focusing on moving the Zero, Oscar and Frank lines up. Much of the Oscars go to Franks.
1x 30 Zero Sen Baku
3x30 Rufe
4x30 A6M3
1x30 A6M5 (was researching at start)
6x30 Oscar IIa
1x30 Oscar IIb (was researching at start)
5x30 Frank a
1x30 Frank b (was researching at start)

Secondary is moving Tojo, Judy, Randy C and George. Not worrying about the Jill or level bombers.
3x all three ea.

Other tidbits are the Val 2 (– if I want the Judy early, I’ll need the Val 2 early), Tony, Jack and Nick.
1x30 Val2
2x30 Tony
2x30 Jack
2x30 Nick a

Other R&D efforts will either remain the same or be changed out to support this. I'm not planning on researching jets or rockets at all at this point for instance.

For engines, I’ll need to get additional factories for the Naka HA-45, Mit HA-43 and perhaps Kawa 60.

Not sure if this is might be too much....

Thoughts?

[Xargun]

I don't see any ARs being converted - arfe you skipping those?

Xargun

[Lowpe]

ORIGINAL: IdahoNYer

R&D will be my biggest challenge in the PDU-off setting.


For engines, I’ll need to get additional factories for the Naka HA-45, Mit HA-43 and perhaps Kawa 60.

Not sure if this is might be too much....

Thoughts?

It really isn't more difficult, and after your first game it is by far easier to do r&d for pdu off.

I believe the end game fighter for Army is the Ki94.

You get really hit hard with night fighters as you almost have to r&d all of them to fill out all possible night fighter squadrons (around 22). By far and away the biggest handicap to pdu off for Japan.

I would look to boost Frank A up to around 7-9 factories, you will have available squadrons to upgrade by the time the plane rolls around (5 to 7). I think you might get 2 George thru the middle of 43 but they do expand to more squadrons eventually in 44 and 45. Think about sizing one of the Frank A factories to size 90 or even larger and that will go into production while the others shift to another Frank r&d.

You get very few Jack squadrons too...I think no more than 4 thru 44.

Val to Judy. Kate to Jill. Pretty straight forward upgrade here.

Pay attention to the goofy Tony upgrade path. You definitely want Tony, but there are traps there.

Try to leave available one or two factories to catch any mistake you might make.

I would look to see what upgrades to Frances...they are so much better than Betty/Nells.

Most importantly, I would put some on Sam. Sam and Frank are the most important planes in a PDU off game.

Finally, I don't think Randy C is worth it...it comes so late, the radar almost never activates, better to make sure you can upgrade every squadron to a night fighter and worry about Randy C in early 44.

IF the squadron later resizes (larger or smaller) on a set date -- then you must upgrade that plane with a full contingent of new planes until after the automatic resize. Squadrons that don't automatically resize can be upgraded with as few as 1 plane. You can do sequential upgrades on the same turn given supply,pools, and all requirements for upgrading are met.

Ships, no AR upgrade at start for Japan. You will need more than 7 acms if you want to keep your minefields...

Good luck and enjoy playing the best side![;)]

Double check your future squadrons arrivals, and upgrade paths...I have played one DBB and one Stock and I might be off a bit confusing the two...

[PaxMondo]

As Lowpe notes: PDO OFF is your friend. You basically need to set on factory on almost everything. For Fighters, you will need A6M and Oscar more than a PDU ON ... a lot of groups need this and a lot don't upgrade without them.

With so many models that need to be produced, you need grow many factories above 30 once in production.

[IdahoNYer]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

I don't see any ARs being converted - arfe you skipping those?

Xargun

Not skipping them, just need to get them to a port with enough repair capability. Others can't convert until '42. I'll probably convert about 8 total to start with.

[IdahoNYer]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

As Lowpe notes: PDO OFF is your friend. You basically need to set on factory on almost everything. For Fighters, you will need A6M and Oscar more than a PDU ON ... a lot of groups need this and a lot don't upgrade without them.

With so many models that need to be produced, you need grow many factories above 30 once in production.

Lowpe/Pax - thanks for your comments and advice.

Will focus on the Oscar/Zero and Frank - the others as feasible. Was surprised to see the Ki-94 - great plane, but moving it from 2/46 to anything practical seems.....challenging.

Agree night fighters are going to be a problem - saw that from the other side in our last game. That's why I like the Randy C - it's gun value and has armor. But....its radar doesn't arrive until 10/45 according to Tracker - does that date advance if the aircraft is produced earlier? Putting any plane up against the B-29s, day or night, without armor is suicide.

My biggest fear at this point is the shear cost of this R&D effort - just in the initial R&D plan, its over 1.2 million supply - and that doesn't include necessary engine expansion/R&d, or any current factory expansion needed right in 12/41. Is that practical or am I wrecking the economy on Turn 1? I can cut a bit, but I still am going to be spending over 1 million supply. How much supply do you normally commit for industry/R&D in the beginning of a game?

[jdsrae]

In a scenario 1 game I changed every research factory to size 30 in the first week and expanded engines a bit too.
I didn’t export any supply from Japan for 3-4 months and didn’t run short of supply anywhere.
I think it’s worth setting up all research factories ASAP so they can start rolling the random dice to repair from the first week.
If you’re going to spend the supply on it one day anyway, better to do it sooner rather than later to start getting the benefit earlier.

I re-read the ASW section of the manual recently and it helped to explain why the IJN xAK to PB conversions are next to useless.
I now think there is more value in the AMc and ACM conversions.
To simplify it next time I will probably just do all Ansyu to PB, all Kiso to ACM and all Tosu to AMc or something like that.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: jdsrae

In a scenario 1 game I changed every research factory to size 30 in the first week and expanded engines a bit too.
I didn’t export any supply from Japan for 3-4 months and didn’t run short of supply anywhere.

An important difference between DDB and Stock Scenario 1 is that in Scenario 1 you get supply production from Refineries. You don't in DDB.

In DDB, you do have to be more careful on supply consumption, and you'll be shipping supply from Home Islands to the SRA all game since local production is limited. No supply production at refineries is also a good reason to expand HI on Java and at Singapore once you get them.....the payoff is in 500 days, and it gives you supply production right next to fuel source, alleviating any need to ship

[Bif1961]

Good luck and logistics wins the wars, remember the old saying for the want of a nail.

[IdahoNYer]

Japanese first turn is finally away!

After much plotting, planning and gnashing of teeth worrying about 1) what did I forget?? 2) all the possibilities of what could go wrong! 3) did I wreck the economy already!?

OK, so what's the initial plan? Simply to be as aggressive as possible and keep pushing for as long as possible. Push the Allies to commit prematurely if possible. Keep L_S_T off balance!

Initial Main Effort will be Malaya to take Singapore, Eastern DEI to close the route to Australia (Mini KB support) and third, expansion in the Central and South Pacific (KB support). Once Singers is neutralized, focus will shift to the DEI itself and the oil centers.

Will take risk in the PI and I won't push too hard in China. Aleutians if forces can be made available.

Malaya will have 6 Divisions assigned to ultimately take Singers (2ID, 5ID, 18ID, 21ID, 33ID, 56ID, Imperial Gds). Initially, forces will land and seize Kota Bharu on the first turn. This will be followed by a divisional sized landing at Mersing on 11 Dec. That's the big risk - plenty of targets well within range of Singers air. This should have two divisions pushing south (Imp Gds, 5th ID) and one driving west from Mersing (18ID). Follow on divisions will land north or south as the situation permits. To provide a bit of a diversion, troops will land initially at Kuching and Singkawang.

To further draw some off some attention, an immediate landing will go in at Kendari supported by Mini-KB (initially Ryujo, to be joined by Zuiho). That will start the Eastern DEI landings, with troops following up at weakly held targets at Ternate and Sorong. 2 Bdes of the 4th ID will be made available to land at Ambon and Koepang, and then push west to isolate Borneo and the PI, then eventually land at Java. (remaining 4th ID Bde will seize Palembang).

KB starts off Pearl, and will route towards Wake Is to provide support there. Two CVs will detach (to Mini-KB) after Wake and then the remaining 4 then will head south to cover landings at Canton and eventually (hopefully) New Caledonia. Rabaul will be seized by the 144th Reg (supported by CVE Taiyo), which will then head to Koumac. 65th Bde will be shipped to Truk for either Port Moresby or Noumea as needed.

PI is going to have minimal forces against it at start, just the 48th and 16th Divisions with support. 48ID will land at northern Luzon and grind toward Clark and Manila. 16th ID will split between Mindanao and southern Luzon. 38th ID will follow after Hong Kong falls to complete conquest of Luzon.

Only the 55th ID(-) with the RTA will advance into Burma as a flank guard and to threaten Rangoon. Only after Singers is taken will more forces be made available.

Also, I'm going to minimize landing at Borneo's oil centers initially, as they will likely just get bombed.

That's the initial plan for the first couple of weeks...will see how that develops. The two big wild cards are of course Force Z and the US CVs. I need to keep L_S_T off balance with multiple lines of advance, yet not be over extended. That will be the challenge!

Hosho and Chiyoda will remain in Japan resizing squadrons and will also look to have 4 of the 6 old BBs remain in Japan to conserve fuel. I may bring a KB CV back to Japan to further resize training squadrons, but that probably can wait a bit. Lastly, Nagato and Mutsu will sail as a reserve of sorts if Force Z is still a viable threat.

[holdwyne]

Thomsen! Good Hunting..

[RangerJoe]

If you decide to resize using a CV, the Akagi has the largest possible air group size.

[RangerJoe]

edit: This was a double post due to resubmitting after a 502 bad gateway error.

[soulsilver]

I reccomend that you use the old BBs to protect your invasions in the SRA region. The only planes that can hurt them are the damned swordfish, and it's not too hard to have some land based LCAP to shut that down. It is much harder to resupply the 16 inch guns on nagato class but the AKEs you have at Pelileu can easily resupply the 14 inch guns. The BBs really help vs ambon early, as even CAs will have a hard time vs the CD guns there. Just be sure to send a convoy of fuel to palau at the start of the game, it feels bad to be taking fuel out of Japan at the start but it's worth it as allows you to spear head 2-3 invasions at once, if u also bring the Nagatos. If you bump into force Z you will also have a much better time with 2 fusos vs force z than 2 kongo vs force Z.

[IdahoNYer]

ORIGINAL: soulsilver

I reccomend that you use the old BBs to protect your invasions in the SRA region. The only planes that can hurt them are the damned swordfish, and it's not too hard to have some land based LCAP to shut that down. It is much harder to resupply the 16 inch guns on nagato class but the AKEs you have at Pelileu can easily resupply the 14 inch guns. The BBs really help vs ambon early, as even CAs will have a hard time vs the CD guns there. Just be sure to send a convoy of fuel to palau at the start of the game, it feels bad to be taking fuel out of Japan at the start but it's worth it as allows you to spear head 2-3 invasions at once, if u also bring the Nagatos. If you bump into force Z you will also have a much better time with 2 fusos vs force z than 2 kongo vs force Z.

Good point on the 14" vs. 16" reloading, but there is exactly 1 AKE in the entire IJN right now....so any BB usage will be challenging to resupply. Of all 6 old BBs, I'm least likely to use the Fusos - they burn one fuel point per hex more than the other two classes. Only the Yamatos burn more. So maybe I'll push out Ise or Hyuga...will see.

[IdahoNYer]

OK, finally got the first turn back and done...

8-9 Dec 41

Highlights – Big Bad Boise mauls a convoy postponing the Kendari landing for a while; other landings go in as planned.

Jpn ships sunk:
DD: 1 (Shirakumo)
xAK: 6
xAKL: 3

Allied ships sunk:
CL: 1 (Boise)
DD: 2 (Scout, Thanet)
SS: 1 (KXII)
CM: 2
CMc: 1
AG: 2
xAK: 2
xAKL: 7
HDML: 3

Air loss:
Jpn: 23
Allied: 16

Subwar:
Jpn: 6 Attacks, 4 ships hit (CMc, 3xAKL sunk, xAP dam)
Allies: 5 Attacks, 1 ship hit (xAK sunk)

Jpn Amph Inv:
Aparri (PI)
Laoag (PI)
Cotabato (PI)
Kuching (DEI)
Singkawang (DEI)

Allied Amph: None

Bases lost: None

Bases seized:
Kota Bharu (Malaya)

SIGINT/Intel: While Boise was accounted for, CA Houston is not and remains a threat. Force Z did not sortie, best bet is either Batavia or Soerabaja. CV Lex was sighted by a Kate heading toward Pearl on the 8th, but nothing solid.

Japan/Industry: Convoy system started and industry for the most part set. Lots of shipping still needs to move toward Nagasaki to form convoys though. Amphibious TFs forming and loading for 2nd ID and 33rd IDs bound for Malaya and two Bdes of the 4th ID bound for Ambon and Koepang. CVL Zuiho re-equips with Zeros and will depart Nagasaki next turn.

Kuriles/Aleutians: No firm plans here yet. I want to reach out to the Aleutians soon before the US can push garrisons west from Dutch Harbor, but not sure where I’m going to get some troops and engineers.

Central Pacific: KB slips through the Hawaiian chain near French Frigate Shoal overwatching the Repl TF as they both head west. KB will head toward Wake to provide support before turning south. Amphibious TFs remain sheltered in the Marshalls awaiting the KB. Nells based at Roi hold back from supporting Wake, and focus on Naval strikes which so far hasn’t provided any potential victims.

South Pacific: Initial focus is Rabaul, but that is still a few days away. CVE Taiyo continues to head to join the Rabaul TFs as they close on the Marianas, enroute initially to Truk. B-17s raided Babeldaob port, likely trying to target the ARD, but only managed to damage an xAKL. With the Claudes now aboard the Taiyo, Petes are pressed into CAP.

DEI/SW Pacific: As the Kendari Amphib TF was transiting the Celebes Sea near Jolo, CL Boise deftly avoided the covering CA TF and mauled the Amphib TF. Nearby CA TF (2CA, 4DD) then took on Boise, sinking her - she was pretty much out of ammo by this time - lucky for Maya and Ashigara! The remnants of the Kendari Amphib split, most going to Baleldaob but an escort TF with a crippled xAK-T wound up at Balabac where they’ll put troops ashore before the still on fire ship founders. Will look to get Kendari landing back on track once ships are available, probably around the time Zuiho arrives. With nothing to cover, CVL Ryujo TF will head back towards the Celebes Sea and cover the Mindanao landings as well as hunt Allied ships heading south. On the positive side, landings went in at Kuching and Singkawang with only two transports damaged by CD guns at Kuching. Troops are ashore in good order and will attack next turn. The Amphib TFs will cease offloading the remaining supply and head for home - gotta figure Force Z may sail to raid.

PI: Aparri and Loaog Amphib landings go in, less one xAK lost to a sub. A CL TF (CL, 4DD) runs across the Hong Kong DDs (2DD,DM) off Luzon and sinks one DD and damages another. Cotabato landings went in without a hitch. Quite a number of surface actions as Allied ships withdraw from Manila, but no major ships encountered - the numerous xAKLs and a few xAKs were enough for the IJN forces involved to deplete ammo enough to require them to head for replenishment - perhaps that was L_S_T’s plan here?? So, two CA TFs and a DD TF will head out to replenish, leaving the Cotabato Amphib, as well as the Amphib approaching Davao and Puerto Princessa a bit exposed. The few remaining naval assets will attempt to cover, while Tanaka’s CL TF (CL, 5DD) remains off Bataan to both cover the landings at northern Luzon and snare any ships departing Manila. Initial air strikes didn’t do much. Zeros failed to fly sweeps and the Nettys and the Zero escorts were met by a solid CAP over Clark AF. Air will focus on covering the landings in northern Luzon and hold off any further daylight strikes against Clark/Manila until Aparri and Loaog can be secured.

Malaya/Burma: A good first two days where no ships were hit by subs and all reinforcing convoys reached Kota Bharu, Singora and Patani without issue. Thailand based air supported the ground attack and Kota Bharu was taken the first assault. The only glitch was a failure of Zeros to sweep Singers, so the air threat there is undiminished. An Allied mining mission to Mersing was attacked by a sub and Nells with two minelayers sunk, but have to figure Mersing is now mined. Mersing will be the focus next turn, with max effort of air support out of the three Malayan airfields with over 100 Oscars and about 60 Zeros in support of the division sized landing supported by the Kongos and cruiser TF. Two SNLF airborne battalions will also support with para drops slated for Port Dickson and Kuala Lumpur, with some luck cutting the rail link to Singers. Lots of risk here, especially without a landing at Kendari to distract L_S_T, and if the weather grounds the LRCAP, this could get messy. Little activity against Burma for the time being, will be a slow grind there until the situation in Malaya is resolved.

China: I still hate China…between maintaining garrisons and trying to figure out multiple routes of advance, its going to be a bit before things get sorted out. The 38th ID(+) did manage to march to Hong Kong and will begin bombarding next turn.

[Q-Ball]

I'm with soulsilver on the 14in BBs....I think they are very useful in the SRA early. The Allies start with quite a few cruisers, not to mention Force Z, but the Fuso/Ise classes will be able to stand against those threats. Plus, I hate to risk the KONGOs down there against Force Z, since long-term those are more valuable units.

If you leave anything behind, leave the NAGATOS, since re-arming them is difficult until you have some LIMA-class AKEs. You could send them to Rabaul; they are a one-shot deal with reloads, but Allies are only likely to take one shot there, and they will crush any Allied cruisers

Bring 'em, you can afford the fuel burn. I wouldn't worry about the fuel, I would just worry about subs.....

[IdahoNYer]

I decided to sortie the Ise/Hyuga and they are heading south to support upcoming operations against Ambon and Koepang in the next few weeks. Still not sure where I'm going to replenish the ammo with one bloody AKE avail though.

Then again, based on the last turn just done, won't have to worry about running into Force Z![:D]