Westerley Wind, Fine NJP72 (J) vs Lowpe (A) DBB Sce 30

[njp72]

Liking China- full of possibilities.

A nice surprise is bearing down on him at Ichang. Hopefully Lowpe has been too distracted with Northern China and Sian to work out the real threat as the axis of advance is rapidly switched.

It has always worked beautifully in the past on other games so it will be interesting to see what happens here. Thus far it doesn't seem like he has seen the threat emerging.....

[njp72]

Game picking up a bit again now after a slight break.

Moves continue to seize Indian industry.

Resistance is moderate but nothing too serious yet. Lowpe's forward defended in Burma with his escape strategy pointing to China.

[njp72]

China still looking good.

The armoured forces are now being re-integrated with inf and artillery to form combined arms groups as the main axis of advance changes from the North to the South.

No frontal assaults on the Chinese- always looking to turn the flanks.

[njp72]

Just starting to nibble on the PIs.

It will be interesting to see what reaction this draws. Still over 100 fighters in Manilla!

[njp72]

East Coast Oz is tracking well.

Won a fairly crucial engagement at Bundaberg with a risky shock attack but it now opens up his defences all the way to Brisbane.

Limited strat bombing has commenced. Won't get really serious for another week or two.

Pressure will mount here on Lowpe to do something.

[njp72]

Western Oz not so good.

Probably the only theatre where the Empire is struggling a little. Failure to take Perth has thwarted my ambitions somewhat.

Constant naval bombardment of the single airfield has deprived the ground forces of the requisite air cover.

Will have no choice but to pull back and re-group. Losses are minimal though.

[njp72]

Consolidating around the S/E Pacific.

Nothing too exciting. Probably a few allied CLs still hiding disbanded in a couple of hexes but I can't find them. [8|]

[njp72]

Score board 13 Jan 42

Again not too bad really. Nice to see the strat bombing points start to accrue.

Shipping losses are higher than usual but look at the calibre of the opponent who knows every little trick in the book. His use of mines in particular has been both superb and annoying at the same time. [;)]

Allied Army losses are starting to increase quite nicely.

[njp72]

So the overall aim continues to be swarming all over the Allies and providing the IJA an opportunity to engage decisively with Allied ground forces.

Lowpe is now confronted with moves on Oz (both coasts), Southern India, a crumbling situation in China and Burma.

Only one last theatre remains untouched which should change shortly [:D]

This is indeed a wonderful, challenging game.

[PaxMondo]

Looking at your scoreboard there, my only comment is that I think your operational losses are a tad high ... you are doing a good job with controlling sorties though, really good there.

[DesertWolf101]

Please allow me to play devils advocate for a minute here njp72 - I know you are playing Scenario 30 so you start off with more forces as Japan, but don't you think your thrusts here are too widely dispersed and not mutually supportive? As happened in WA, you risk giving the Allied player an isolated force to concentrate on early on. From my perspective, there are too many openings for an Allied player to exploit.

I am enjoying watching this campaign develop, keep it coming!

[njp72]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

Looking at your scoreboard there, my only comment is that I think your operational losses are a tad high ... you are doing a good job with controlling sorties though, really good there.

I can be a bit slack with op losses- good pick up Pax.

[njp72]

ORIGINAL: DesertWolf101

Please allow me to play devils advocate for a minute here njp72 - I know you are playing Scenario 30 so you start off with more forces as Japan, but don't you think your thrusts here are too widely dispersed and not mutually supportive? As happened in WA, you risk giving the Allied player an isolated force to concentrate on early on. From my perspective, there are too many openings for an Allied player to exploit.

I am enjoying watching this campaign develop, keep it coming!

Yes you are correct some of the advances are not mutually supporting at all and logistically a nightmare to handle.

In saying all of that as long as you don't become decisively engaged, the Allies don't really have the combat power to completely isolate or destroy an advance in early 42. You should be able to break contact reasonably easy up until mid 42.

Sometimes you have to take some risks with multiple advances to get the Allies to come out and fight. By and large the harder the Allies fight in 42 the better the scoreboard will look for Japan.

I guess we will see[:D]- good observation.

[njp72]

Interesting situation with China which I have tried to illustrate with some symbols.

Have managed to flank multiple Chinese units at Pingsiang (?) which is circled in black. This has the potential to unhinge the Chinese defences quite dramtically. I could be ultra aggressive and head to Hengyang (my natural inclination with the blue star) which will be very hard to stop or play safe and head south to Kukong (orange 5 point star).

Clearly the move to the North is the way to go but the impact is likely to be devastating on the Chinese. Is operating approximately 3 Inf Divs + effectively behind Chinese lines across rough terrain paticularly gamey???? I sometimes think supply is not always correctly modelled in the game but I counter that with thinking back at how the IJA often operated with non- existant supply lines in terrible terrain (Burma, PNG etc) often with columns deep behind established front lines.

I do like concentrating armour (and I have no issue being on the receiving end of this either) which I would never consider gamey but I do actually find combined arms approach works better. To smash through the Chinese I will mass armour and a couple of inf divisions depending on stacking limits.


Further North another (orange star) an IJA army group will move across rough terrain and try to secure the critical river crossing hex.


Will be interested to hear the forum's thoughts about the potential options and what constitutes fair play. Its fascinating after playing this game so long that I still at times feel unease but I think it is in respect to Lowpe who is a gentleman as well as a skilled player.

[njp72]

Whilst the gallery ponders my last question the war goes on[:)]

KB annoyingly spotted about a week too soon before operations commence in the Central Pacific. [:@]

I have a plan to deal with Wake and Midway which I want to implement in Jan.

[DesertWolf101]

ORIGINAL: njp72

Interesting situation with China which I have tried to illustrate with some symbols.

Have managed to flank multiple Chinese units at Pingsiang (?) which is circled in black. This has the potential to unhinge the Chinese defences quite dramtically. I could be ultra aggressive and head to Hengyang (my natural inclination with the blue star) which will be very hard to stop or play safe and head south to Kukong (orange 5 point star).

Clearly the move to the North is the way to go but the impact is likely to be devastating on the Chinese. Is operating approximately 3 Inf Divs + effectively behind Chinese lines across rough terrain paticularly gamey???? I sometimes think supply is not always correctly modelled in the game but I counter that with thinking back at how the IJA often operated with non- existant supply lines in terrible terrain (Burma, PNG etc) often with columns deep behind established front lines.

I do like concentrating armour (and I have no issue being on the receiving end of this either) which I would never consider gamey but I do actually find combined arms approach works better. To smash through the Chinese I will mass armour and a couple of inf divisions depending on stacking limits.


Further North another (orange star) an IJA army group will move across rough terrain and try to secure the critical river crossing hex.


Will be interested to hear the forum's thoughts about the potential options and what constitutes fair play. Its fascinating after playing this game so long that I still at times feel unease but I think it is in respect to Lowpe who is a gentleman as well as a skilled player.

If I was in your situation I would go for Henyang. I think it is a perfectly reasonable move - the game may not model supply perfectly, but I believe you will be punished if you don't have clear supply lines for too long. In fact I would advise that you make sure that the Chinese forces you leave behind are adequately covered by blocking forces before moving too deep.

[Bif1961]

I say go for it and find out if you suffer adverse affects from the lack of supply on your offensive movements. Both the Chinese and Japanese were light on the supply spectrum while the western armies used far more, with the US taking vast amounts of supply or be locked in place.

[njp72]

Thanks gents for your input/ comments.

I concur and will push on. It should be an interesting week on the China front [:D]

[njp72]

Jan 15th- war continues as multiple theatres turn into slugging matches.

Losses are brutal on both sides. Mentally there is ongoing a clash of wills. I want the Allies to back off and let me secure my next round of objectives before I can really settle into a campaign of comfortable strat bombing. Lowpe is either hoping to stop me cold or cut short the overall advance.

I suspect that neither myself or Lowpe will win out here. The advances will continue and either the Allies exhaust their supply of surface combatants or the IJN exhausts their logisitical tail and will need to undertake an operational pause.

The next clash of wills below- again both sides bleeding ships, men and aircraft. Pretty certain the audience can identify the next objective here.

[njp72]

And on the otherside of the world KB is offensively moving to clear Allied shipping out of the way for the next round of invasions in the Central Pacific.

An added bonus was unexpectantly sinking an armoured regt trapped on a couple of APs and nailing a couple of Aks as well.

I wonder if there may be other ALlied troop ships in the vicinity or I simply stumbled onto some very unlucky merchant shipping????

Probably worth extending for a day or two and pushing out a bit further- but which direction, North or South ??[&:]