Attack Attack Attack - a Hotseat AAR

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Remington700
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Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 12:42 pm

Allied February 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Allied February 15th
It has been a rough start to the year for the Allies in the PTO. The CBI theater is a mess. Burma has been overrun cutting lend lease to China. Japanese armies are pushing toward Chittagong and Myitkyina further separating China from supply through India. The only option left is to fly supplies over the Eastern Himalayan foothills (The Hump) from Ledo to Kunming. This will take a couple of months to pull together and the rail line to Ledo must be held to provide a staging area for the flights.

The coast of Southern China has been lost allowing Japanese supply to flow freely from Indochina to Hong Kong. The rail to Changsha is cut as the defensive line is slowly being rolled up north. This city is a key objective towards victory. Its loss will reduce morale and production.

In the South Pacific the Solomon Islands have fallen and Fiji is in danger of occupation. I have made zero impact on Japanese shipping due to the failure of the Mark 14 torpedoes. As mentioned by others, WPP does a great job of simulating this fiasco. With shortages of transports, production and starting units the only option is to save my carriers.

My success has been Station HYPO and the headway made with cracking the Japanese code. However, there is an argument from Washington that intelligence assets should be used setting up a “coast watcher” network rather than cracking puzzles. In game terms, this is a great simulation of the political battle that raged between HYPO (who worked with code breaking) and OP-20-G Naval Intelligence in Washington (wanting verified intel). Well done Alvaro.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied February 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Burma
Indian forces continue to retreat to a defendable position with a secure left flank. The key to holding Ledo is the rail line through the Himalayan foothills along the Brahmaputra River. At some point Japanese supply lines will be stretched to a point that holding a defensive line is possible.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied February 15th

Post by Remington700 »

South China
12th Army Group retreats from Chenzhou rather than be cutoff. The goal is to fight a war of attrition with the Japanese but so far this has been a bust. Poor weather is the only Chinese advantage in this front.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied February 15th

Post by Remington700 »

South Pacific
Operation “Aces and Eights” was a non-event. I made a mistake by not building couple of oilers in December. My fleet is low on oil so will steam to Sydney for resupply. The Australian 1st RAAF moves to mutually support Fiji with New Zealand’s tactical air group. This leaves New Caledonia without air support but is worth the risk as Fiji is better protected.

The Hornet is due to arrive within six weeks, which in game terms means I have three turns before I can reinforce my CV task force. This will improve our odds greatly against the Kido Butai.

The Grayling SS leaves Darwin to hunt convoys in the South China Sea. A large pack of US subs leave Sydney heading into the Banda Sea on their way to aid the Grayling in convoy attacks.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied February 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Builds and Reinforcements
The UK builds an Oiler, and the US builds four which are all due to arrive in sixty days. The rest of the allies are set to maximize replacements rather than building stockpile.

The Ramillies battle group arrives in Africa. A strategic bombing group arrives in San Diego and flies to the Hawaiian Islands. They are refitted and loaded out with anti-sub weaponry in preparation for relocation to the South Pacific.

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Remington700
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Japan March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Japan March 1st

Burma
With engineer support the 15th Army attacks across the Chindwin River pushing the Indian 17th infantry division north towards Imphal. A Follow up attack shatters the division opening the left flank. The Indian National Army exploits the gap capturing Imphal. The 25th Army moves unopposed along the coast road to reach the outskirts of Chittagong. Support troops and air units follow.

Operation C begins with the Ryujo CV task force entering the Bay of Bengal. They will provide air cover for ground attacks on Chittagong and look to ambush UK carriers if they respond. Air units are set to “full support” to aid with the naval ambush. There is a tactical naval air unit and an infantry brigade in the Andaman Islands at Port Blair south of this screenshot.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

South China
Chenzhou is occupied by a Japanese division. Heavy rain has stopped the 16th Army’s advance. Planes are grounded. I need to learn the weather pattern for South China as this is going nowhere.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Java Sea
Defense of the DEI and Borneo needs to be beefed up. I have a few divisions on the ground and a couple of tactical naval air units patrolling the Java Sea. I wonder how much more is needed. Currently the area is secure as my offensives in Burma and the Solomon's are keeping Allied forces very busy

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Coral Sea
Fighters and tactical naval air units create a ring of defense. Backed by a CV task force this will be a tough nut to crack. Naval repairs can be made at Rabaul so what I really need to do is to sink the US carriers. When I get the landing craft, I will take another shot at taking Fiji as I want to use the base to repair and supply units attacking the South Pacific convoys.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Builds
Builds are one land supply unit. My oil was reduced by partisans at Kuala Belait. Stockpile grew last turn, so I bumped up my reinforcement rate. Manpower appears to be at the maximum level, so I need to think about building more ground units.

COMINT is slowly growing. This is the problem with “hotseat” - perfect information. I do not need a broken code to know the location of the main fleets. My plan is to play the Japanese to counter the historical outcome of their broken code by reworking encryption. As Allied, I will work to break the code and build intelligence units (coast watchers) to have on hand when needed.

IMO: For combat purposes the perfect knowledge advantage appears to be mitigated by the spotting mechanics of the game. By breaking the enemy’s code, you can get a higher recon level when using an intelligence unit, which I believe increases your chances of spotting the enemy once targeted.

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Remington700
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Allied March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Allied March 1st

Burma
Chittagong is abandoned to the enemy as the 1st and 3rd Corps retreat to the west of Dacca. The left flank is anchored by the 20th division with a supporting brigade arriving from the west. The Waziristan Division (a small corps) arrives from Pakistan. Ledo is abandoned as the Madras division rails to the north of Dacca. Air support is weak as replacements are needed to bring the planes of the IAF to fighting condition.

A large enemy taskforce with 3 CVs and 4 BBs is within striking distance of Calcutta and Dacca. The rag-tag British fleet steams from Ceylon to Diego Garcia on its way to Africa as it is no match for the Japanese carriers. The Hermes air strike capabilities are very week due to rookie pilots and recon planes used as fighters.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Central China
The 20th and 2nd armies pull back to more defendable positions. 3rd Army heads north as more troops are needed to defend the Sian rail line. Heavy rain hampers movement of both friend and foe alike.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

South Pacific
The 1st Air Fleet blockades Noumea. I do not know how long they can stay on station or how long the division can hold out. I leave my CV fleet in port at Sydney to stockpile a little more oil. Six carriers and a land-based air group are not something I want to attack. I am waiting for the arrival of the CV Hornet to even things up a bit.

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Remington700
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RE: Allied March 1st

Post by Remington700 »

Builds and Convoys
No US builds this turn – saving for an air unit. The UK builds a signals intelligence asset.

I stopped sending PPs to Australia and NZ but continue convoys of 2 oil each. The rest of my MM are used to send 38 PPs to India. This should help replace loses and fill out units.

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Remington700
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Japan March 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Burma
The 15th Army continues its advance along the coast road capturing Chittagong while keeping contact with the retreating 3rd Corps. The Indian National Army advances following the retreating 20th Division. The 23rd Brigade captures Myitkyina and pushes to within 100 miles of Ledo. Supply remains strong as the Imperial armies move to cut off the last China lifeline to the west.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 15th

Post by Remington700 »

South China
The 12th Army, supported by the 16th Army and 34th Division, attack positions 100 miles south of Changsha in the snow. The Chinese Reserve Army holds its position taking advantage of the poor weather and entrenched positions. Preattack bombing was ineffective.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 15th

Post by Remington700 »

South China Sea
The 1st tactical air division (anti-sub) fail to locate the US subs attacking shipping. Destroyers continue to sweep the convoy route. The Swordfish and Pike were damaged with no loss in Merchant Marine.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Banda Sea
19th brigade lands at Dili in Portuguese Timor to secure the airbase for tactical naval bombers to target Darwin. The 4th Infantry Division and the 2nd tactical Naval Air group land at Makassar in Celebes. The air group will move on to Dili next turn.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Coral Sea
The 1st Air Fleet returns to Rabaul for supply. Preparations for operation MO, the attack on Port Moresby, continue as landing ships will be available in two weeks. It is hoped the attack will draw out the US carriers. At some point they must fight.

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Remington700
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RE: Japan March 15th

Post by Remington700 »

Builds
Builds are 2 landing ships and Replacements are increased to 225. Oil stockpile is static, the same as last turn. At some point I need to stockpile oil, but it will have to wait until I go on the defensive.

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