Empire of the Sun - DesertWolf101 (J) vs Andy Mac (A)

[DesertWolf101]

June 10, 1942

Submarines

SS Permit attempts to engage the Yamato task force but is sighted and set upon by the destroyer escorts. After repeated hits the submarine is forced to the surface and blasted away by naval gunfire.

North Pacific

Following a withering bombardment from the Yamato task force in which more than 200 Allies squads/devices are destroyed and two base forces and a combat engineer battalion wiped out, the Japanese launch a final assault and take Umnak Island, overwhelming the remaining two American infantry regiments in the process. Operation Jagged Peaks is off to a good start!

The Marine raiders on Attu, who were undoubtedly inserted by submarine, are assaulted and wiped out. I would say about half the battalion was eliminated here but it’s hard to tell.

China

Kunming falls to the Empire. With this key redoubt’s fall, only three bases still provide supply to the Chinese. These are Paoshan, Sinning, and Wenchow. The latter is besieged from all sides so only provides for its own garrison.

[DesertWolf101]

June 11, 1942

India

Nell torpedo bombers engage some shipping that was bringing in troops and supplies into the now isolated Allied garrison at Bombay. They miss a lot of their runs but they do put two torpedoes into xAP Dunera which promptly sinks.

Philippines

Japanese forces arrive at Bataan and ready themselves for the final assault.

[DesertWolf101]

June 12, 1942

North Pacific

16 SB2U-3 Vindicator dive bombers set out once more from Cold Bay to attack my shipping but this time my Zero LRCAP was ready and all the American dive bombers are destroyed.

China

Patung falls to the Empire.

[DesertWolf101]

June 13, 1942

Ceylon

The Empire emerges victorious from a small night engagement by a pair of destroyers on each side. DD Foxhound is heavily damaged for no hits sustained on the Japanese side.

India

I am really liking the Nick thus far! 30 of the twin engine machines sweep over Bombay and shatter the Hurricane CAP there. 14 Hurricanes are destroyed for no loss.

Philippines

The Japanese attack and take Bataan, wiping out the last Allied presence on Luzon. This has taken a while, and it's good to not only wrap it up but also bag lots of prisoners and free up units.

[DesertWolf101]

June 14, 1942

Submarines

SS Tuna runs into a strategically placed minefield near Java and suffers heavy damage. I subsequently hear sinking sounds so hopefully it went down.

North Pacific

The Yamato Task Force pays a visit to Cold Bay during the night and delivers its potent dose of damage. This should keep the garrison's heads down while the subsequent phases of Operation Jagged Peaks get underway.

[DesertWolf101]

June 15, 1942

Northern Australia

The Yokosuka 1st SNLF captures Port Hedland and destroys the local base force through a parachute drop operation.

India

Andy has started to move some of his forces forward to test my defenses. Aside from it being a bit a bit of an inopportune timing as my forces move up to the front line, this is a good thing since I want him to bring his troops into action here without my having to cross the emergency reinforcement line to get to them.

China

The monster stack northeast of Sian is being hounded and I have a good opportunity to finally trap it. Through constant air bombing and ground attacks, it has been reduced from the initial 5,500 AV to about 2,800 AV now.

[DesertWolf101]

June 16, 1942

Submarines

SS Greenling attempts to interfere with Japanese coastal minesweeping efforts in Bataan. It pays for its impertinence however when it collides with one into its own side's mines there. A gratifying result indeed!

Ceylon

The Haruna and Kongo pay a visit to Trincomalee where Andy is moving almost all the Allied forces on the island to. Not much damage is done but the bombardment is important to keep fortification works at a minimum while my troops move in to position for the assault.

[DesertWolf101]

June 17, 1942

Ceylon

The Japanese 5th Division storms and takes Colombo, destroying the fortress there in the process. After a disquieting start, Operation Morning Mist is finally proceeding well. Now to finish off the garrison of 16 units holing up at Trincomalee.

China

Japanese forces storm and capture Tsuyung - onwards to Paoshan!

[DesertWolf101]

June 18, 1942

India

The Japanese advance in India is fairly slow but methodical. The garrison requirements here are really quite extensive, making it difficult to bring the full weight of the local Japanese fist into action. Once Morning Mist is wrapped up, I am inclined to bring in a couple of divisions from that operation in addition to two more divisions from the recently replenished strategic reserve to both eliminate the Bombay garrison and - hopefully - deliver another blow to the Allied field army in the subcontinent. For the latter to occur however I need to both identify Andy's main force locations and entice him to come towards me as I have resolved to not cross the emergency reinforcement line. The 7th Tank Regiment is doing some deep recce work to explore air sightings of troop concentrations near Bhopal and Indore.

[DesertWolf101]

State of the War (June 19-30, 1942, and Future Plans)

Andy and I have been churning through the turns at a pretty rapid pace so I haven’t been able to keep up with the AAR. Here is a summary of where things stand to bring us up to date with where the game is at:

China

The massive Chinese army near Sian has been fully trapped and is now down to a mere 2,000 AV. Only five bases remain under the control of the Chinese (Paoshan, Wenchow, Sining, Ansi, and Kashgar). Paoshan and Ansi are about to fall under the control of the Empire and Japanese forces will shortly be on their way to deal with Wenchow and Sining. A mobile unit is on its way to occupy Kashgar which I believe to be with no Chinese garrison.

Operation Siberian Winter - USSR

The Kwantung Army has already assembled in its positions and preparations are well underway. There has been a slight delay with the arrival of Japanese forces from China as mopping up operations there are taking a while but for now I still expect to meet the mid-September kick off date for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Ki-44-IIa Tojo fighters and Ki-49-IIa Helen bombers are now in production and A6M3a Zero production will start from tomorrow. These new aircraft types, (in addition to the Ki-45 KAIa Nick which I have been very impressed with), will be much needed for the operation.

Operation Jagged Peaks - Aleutians

With Umnak Island taken, the first phase of the operation is complete. The last ten game days have been fairly quiet here, mostly geared towards preparations of forces and repairing the damaged airfield at Umnak to enhance air cover for the subsequent landings at Dutch Harbor and Cold Bay. Securing the Aleutians will enhance the stand off distance between the USSR and the rest of the Allies. I also plan to use the Aleutians for some exciting operations against the far eastern Soviet bases.

Operation Morning Mist - Ceylon

The Allies have been pushed back to Trincomalee with the rest of Ceylon under Japanese control. Rather than evacuate forces, Andy has instead elected to keep reinforcing the garrison with more troops by Catalina seaplane. Imperial forces besieging Trincomalee have knocked down forts to zero but, in part due to the added Allied reinforcements and the fact that Andy’s forces are better supported with HQs, the Japanese are struggling to get the needed odds to take the base. Additional Japanese forces, including needed HQ and artillery support, are on their way. I remain highly confident of the eventual success of the operation.

Operation Coiled Cobra - India

This is the new addition to the list of underway Japanese operations. I have been considering potential options in India and what I really want to accomplish here in the next two months of the war is to deal another heavy blow to the Allied field armies. Problem is I refuse to cross the emergency reinforcement line to get to them and so I need them to come south. To that end, Operation Coiled Cobra is heavy on deception and is designed to entice Andy to come down early and once his forces are committed I aim to strike back with a vicious counterattack and hopefully catch him by surprise. To that end, I have weakened my front in select locations to draw him in. With the exception of Madras and Calcutta which I will strongly hold, I am even ok with him taking some Indian cities if that convinces him that I am weak enough. If all works well, his extended forces will be hit by 10 well supported crack Japanese divisions in about a month's time. Smashing his forces in the subcontinent one more time will go a long way towards making me that much more comfortable about Siberian Winter.

General thoughts, advice, and criticism are all welcome!

[Q-Ball]

I looked through the Soviets the other day (which I haven't done in years), and noticed a few things you may be able to exploit:

--While the MIG-3 is a very good airplane, production ends in 1942. At that point, there is no modern fighter in production for the Soviets until 1944! So cause losses in Mig-3s, otherwise he's stuck with lots of pre-war garbage planes
--Same problem with bombers; the IL-4 Sturmovik stays in production, so he has TONS of those (with armor of 2!!!), but really nothing else other than some SB-2 and DB-3 garbage. The IL-4 has a max range of 4 hexes, so it's really limited that way. I'm curious what that Level-2 armor does in-game, never seen it in WITP. Seems like with weak-armed Japanese planes, you'll have trouble shooting them down
--You probably know this, but Soviets have a ton of submarines and decent sub captains to boot....plus working torpedoes and of course a base close to the Home Islands. That's all going to jump-start the Allies sub campaign, watch out for that

[RangerJoe]

Except that the IL-2 production on map is over half the number recieved and it can by invaded by going up the river.

Also, what happens to those ships when the port is captured the turn before they come in? It is something to research, what is at that port and what it will take to invade and win on the first turn. I see lots of BB guns in action.

The 45mm AA gun is short ranged and if there are no larger guns there, then that place is vulnerable to high level bombing. If there are no autocannons or AA machine guns there, that place is vulnerable to low level attacks.

What happens to those Soviet ships if there is a massive minefield laid at the main port? Especially with IJN air units on Naval Strikes along with fighter sweeps? Not to mention IJN subs right outside the port as well.

[GetAssista]

It is very useful to cross the border into USSR (and activate the Soviets) in several points on the same day, cutting the rail in several places to deny operational mobility. In the middle it can be done with smaller units cause it would take a lot of time for Soviets to march to the blocks through all the woods

Aggressive sweeping is key to reduce Soviet airpower and open skies to unopposed bombing, cause once pools are exhausted no fighter replacements are coming for a long time. And you would need a lof of bombing to dislodge Soviets

Tanks are numerous but thin skinned. Catch them on the defensive with your AT concentrated and they will burn away. Bombing works great too, but previous point applies

Soviet CD guns are brutal, and they are everywhere, so be aware of where you land if you want to supplement the overland invasion. General arty is also great, can be a lot of pain if you decide to bombard unaware.

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
--Same problem with bombers; the IL-4 Sturmovik stays in production, so he has TONS of those (with armor of 2!!!), but really nothing else other than some SB-2 and DB-3 garbage. The IL-4 has a max range of 4 hexes, so it's really limited that way. I'm curious what that Level-2 armor does in-game, never seen it in WITP. Seems like with weak-armed Japanese planes, you'll have trouble shooting them down

IL-2 is not really effective with its puny bombload and short range. Zeros shoot those down just fine regardless of armor.

[PaxMondo]

IL-2 can do what it is designed to do very well: strafe and kill AFV's, particularly the thin skinned IJA ones. And they are basically impervious to rifle caliber ground fire. However, they are slow and really susceptible to fighters and the A6M 20mm cannons will penetrate the armor. The Oscar 12.7mm though will NOT. So keep that in mind.

MIG-3. Agreed. Sweep them away ASAP. Once gone, and they don't get all that many, you don't have a fighter to worry about. You should control the air pretty easy.

Arty/ARM: I would build a LOT of Nicks if you are going into SOV early. Along with Helen with armor. You're going to have to do a LOT of low level ground attack to counteract the SOV ARTY/ARM advantages. Surging forward early and blocking supply and reinforcement flow south from the North is really important. The SOV arty burns a LOT of supply really fast.

AA: The SOV get a ton of this also, so your flak losses will be really bad whenever you bomb a base. Use the low level ground attacks away from bases ...

Good Luck! Looking forward to the AAR with you in SOV ...

[RangerJoe]

Yes, once you cut that supply line, make the enemy burn his supplies even with high level base attacks with just a few bombers once the enemy fighters are knocked out. Lots of supply burned with little gain. Multiple small attacks on large stacks away from bases as well.

[DesertWolf101]

Thank you Q-ball, RJ, GetAssista, and PaxMondo for your comments/advice. It's good to have other player's feedback to make sure I am not being foolish.

The Soviet capabilities that concern me the most are their submarines, artillery, CD guns, MiG-3, and flak. Here are the measures I am taking to counter them:

Submarines -
This is probably the one that worries me the most. My response to the enhanced submarine threat will be a combination of active countermeasures such as a surge of ASW air and heavy placement of naval minefields, combined with rerouting of convoys to minimize the threat. I will rely heavily on my destroyers (of which very few have been lost thus far) to keep his fleet bottled in and hunt for submarines at the same time. Eventually I aim to reduce the submarine threat further by knocking out their basing options and attacking them in port if/when they go back to repair.

Artillery -
Not really all that much I can do about this except bring in a lot of artillery myself and seek to destroy as many artillery units in the field as possible in favorable conditions. The one silver lining with these is that they will help burn up his supply over time which I will be aiming to make scarce to begin with.

CD guns -
The soviet CD gun arsenal is very impressive and lethal. Basically my approach here is one of avoidance. Wherever possible, I will be attacking CD gun protected coastal hexes from the rear rather than landing into their teeth. If I do have to attack a CD protected base from the sea, I’m bringing in the kitchen sink.

MiG-3 -
Probably the most qualitatively superior aircraft on both sides of the line. I am hoping the Tojo/Nick combination and good pilots will help bring it under control. Even if I shoot down less Mig-3s than I lose planes to it, I will hopefully grind its relatively small numbers down over time.

Flak -
Soviet forces are very generously equipped with anti-aircraft guns. I have focused on bringing in the armored Helen variant into the line to help with this and will rely on them instead of Sally or light bombers to go after the flak heavy targets. Beyond that, I will try to fly at a safer altitude wherever possible.

In terms of the strategic picture, I am concerned over potential moves by the rest of the Allies and my supply situation over time. In terms of the former, much of my land and air combat power will be invested in Operation Siberian Winter, so I will rely on the IJN to keep a watch on the rest of the Empire’s frontiers. The exception is India where I will still maintain a healthy complement of land and air units (mostly IJNAF).

With regards to supply, I anticipate that I will be going into the operation with 3.5 million supply overall and I am concerned this could be eaten up over time by what I am sure will be numerous grinding battles with the Soviets. Supply limitations are the name of the game in a Scenario 1 campaign though so I will just have to manage and save up where I can.

[RangerJoe]

Thank you.

Well, if you if you supersize air units, that should help.

Try to move into the Western Aleutians and Alaska to provide early warnings of Allied supply convoys.

Open up the other side then see what he has and where he has it. Also note what units leave and when they leave. Then do the same for arriving units. He is not allowed to move units until the Soviets are activated. If you have the time and inclination, wargame it by doing a scenario although it would be a lot of work. But all that you have to put in is the Soviet forces that you are attacking and your possible attacking force. I do not know if you get Strategic Surprise against the Soviets like on 7 December 1941, someone with knowledge may be able to chime in on that.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Thank you.

Well, if you if you supersize air units, that should help.

Try to move into the Western Aleutians and Alaska to provide early warnings of Allied supply convoys.

Open up the other side then see what he has and where he has it. Also note what units leave and when they leave. Then do the same for arriving units. He is not allowed to move units until the Soviets are activated. If you have the time and inclination, wargame it by doing a scenario although it would be a lot of work. But all that you have to put in is the Soviet forces that you are attacking and your possible attacking force. I do not know if you get Strategic Surprise against the Soviets like on 7 December 1941, someone with knowledge may be able to chime in on that.

No explicit surprise bonus. He should have CAP up on all bases, he won't have counter attacks though on that first turn ... so your bases are safe the first turn ....

[DesertWolf101]

July 11, 1942

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what kind of unit Andy's transports were carrying here? I am leaning towards some kind of AT gun unit(s).

[RangerJoe]

How about artillery or AAA units? [8|]