Variants - Empire Side - Game over

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

Looks like Nomad dropped out of the AAR and this forum. I hope your game is going well.

Cheers,
CB

Game is going good - we are exchanging punches but nothing major yet. I will post more today and give an update from my side of things.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Alright - a lot has happened since my last real post - over 9 months of game time have gone by -- all of 1942. We are in early 1943 and I think I am doing well - but I have only had one previous game go into 1943 so I have no idea how I am doing or if I am in a good position economically either - its all new.

China:
I need to start with China - well what used to be China. China is 100% conquered - all bases are mine. I was able to punch through the chinese defenses at Siangtan and Hengyang forcing the collapse of the entire Chinese defensive line. Well, not sure it was a collapse but Nomad recognized I had a hole and immediately retreated everywhere. I pushed hard (but not hard enough) and pushed the Chinese troops all the way into Burma where I was unable to stop their escape and the majority of the Chinese forces are now in Burma / India sucking up tons of supplies and growing stronger.

I have destroyed the following Chinese units - and they won't be back until he liberates Chungking or Chengtu: 5 Army HQs, 6 Corps, 1 Brigade, 1 Construction Rgt and 1 Base Force -- everything else is most likely sitting in Burma / India.

I am worried about these Chinese units growing to strong for me on all the supplies. I do have a ton more units in Burma - everything that was in China that isn't on garrison duty is now in Burma or setting up defensive lines in the mountains.


Burma:


Allied forces have slowly begun their march south - and have taken a ton of dot bases north of the cleared land. They have recently took Katha and Myitkyina - though there was a good fight at Myitkyina. Allies have also taken Ramree Island and the dot bases around it. I tried to defend but just couldn't get enough supplies to my units and they crumpled.

Most of my units here are at 100% strength and many have upgraded to the new IJA 1943 squad - though that only provides more AFV attack and I havent seen many tanks in theater yet.

Allied 2E bombers from Imphal (lvl 9 AF) have been blasting my airfields at Magwe and Mandalay and my cap traps and sweeps have been hammering his P-38s and fighters over Akyab. My plenthora of 2E bombers haven't done a whole lot yet, and I am waiting for his units to come out of the jungle and into the open so I can hammer them -- I think he is waiting for more fighters or something before breaking cover. I have 6 fighter units in Burma with a couple more at Saigon and Bangkok for reinforcement when needed. I have 10 or so 2E bomber units and 3 units of LR bombers - Rangoon, Bangkok and Port Blair.

A small CV tf (Akagi, Hiyo and 2 CVLs loaded with fighters only) have popped up now and then hitting massed shipping at Akyab and Remree island - one of these trips cost the RN the Price of Wales - as she took 6 torpedoes and sunk. Surface action up here has cost me a CA as well - thats how I found the PoW unfortunately. Repulse was there too, but she disappeared afterwards.

As you can see by the picture posted I have units all along the river and on all dot bases to stop any paradrops. I am building forts everywhere and hope to do a fighting withdrawal. I am currently planning on not abandoning Rangoon and making him fight for it. It may cost me a division or two of troops, but with the extra chinese troops I have I think it will be worth it. He can't move south with Rangoon's port.

(If you have questions please ask and I will do my best to answer)

Xargun

[Xargun]

South Pacific:



As you can see the Allies have taken the Solomons back - I only had a couple lightly defended bases here. There are B-17s based at Port Moresby and they have cratered the facilities at both Rabaul and more recently Kavieng. The AF at Manus is still operational and I am trying to pull the damaged planes back from Kavieng, but the daily B-17s bombings are making it nearly impossible. More P-38s and some Corsairs are flying daily sweeps as well.

The US CVs have been spotted several times in the south pacific and only once was the KB in range for a battle, but weather prevented any sorties from either side [:@] I am still hauling resources off of Ocean and Nauru islands but the allies are getting close there too. CVs hit the amphib TF at Makin, but after he landed all his troops, but I did manage to kill everything there (2 DEs, 3 LSTs, 4 xAPs and 3 xAKL) with minimal aircraft losses. I have the 6 fleet CVs and 2 fighter-laden CVLs at Truk along with a half dozen 8k AOs for emergency refueling if needed.

Truk has a size 15 repair yard so it makes repairing minor damage nice and easy here. 6 fighter units and 4 LR Bomber units are in the area as well. When he pushes for the Marhshalls I hope to make it cost him - he will have to bring his CVs as he knows I have my carriers in the area.


(If you have questions please ask and I will do my best to answer)

Xargun

[Xargun]

Intel:


Quick look at the intel screen for those interested.


Aircraft Updates:

I am currently building the following aircraft:

H6K4-L Mavis, H8K1 Emily, Ki-46-III Dinah
G3M3 Nell, Ki-49-IIb Helen
A6M3a Zero, A6M5c Zero, Ki-44-IIc Tojo

With the shorter range of the A6M5c I am not sure where to put them. I am thinking of splitting the 5c and 3a on my carriers - which are almost all 3a right now. The 3a has the good range, but the 5c is a better fighter. So maybe fill the CVLs with 5c for CAP duties and leave the rest 3a for their escort range.


Aircraft under R&D:

N1K1-J George (7/43)
N1K5-J George (10/45)
A7M2 Sam (1/45)
Ki-84a Frank (2/44)
Ki-84r Frank (10/44)
D4Y4 Judy (4/44)
B6N2a Jill (7/44)

I have been focusing on hauling Resources back to Japan as when I started tracking the levels in Japan I noticed I was down to like 18 days worth only. I now have 61 days of resources stockpiled, 127 days of oil (not too worried about oil), and 197 days of fuel. I have 1.2 Million HI stockpiled, 1.3 Million Manpower, 364k Armaments, 988 Naval, 789 Merchant, and 8900 Vehicle.


Xargun

[BBfanboy]

The ship sunk count is low on both sides, and the points for them indicate they are mostly low-value. You are doing well if you have 6 CVs in early 1943.

The IJ points lost for LCUs is higher than usual for this stage, and your aircraft losses are much higher than expected (relative to the Allies losses). But if you have been building a good pilot training program and making good planes for them to fly that can change.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

The ship sunk count is low on both sides, and the points for them indicate they are mostly low-value. You are doing well if you have 6 CVs in early 1943.

I actually have 8 fleet CVs and 8 or so babies (CVLs and CVEs). We are playing scenario 2 - not sure if there are extra CVs in there or not. Neither of us has lost any carriers of any variety yet, though an allied sub did put a torp into Akagi in late 42 -- she had to limp back to Nagasaki for repairs and is now in Singapore with Hiyo and 2 CVLs.

The IJ points lost for LCUs is higher than usual for this stage, and your aircraft losses are much higher than expected (relative to the Allies losses). But if you have been building a good pilot training program and making good planes for them to fly that can change.

I have a bunch more LCUs than standard scenario but have only lost 1 or 2 destroyed. His heavy bombers can deal a devastating blow when massed. He has caught a lot of my planes on the ground and my ops losses are high -- not sure why other than some missions are long ranged still.

One of the bigger problems I see moving forward is naval pilots. I just can't keep any in the replacement pool and while I have 250 or so in fighter reserve I don't feel its enough. The Army side is doing much better as the losses haven't been that high there.

Xargun

[BBfanboy]

Below your South Pacific situation map you mention "the six fleet CVs" which misled me to think that was all you had. Eight is even better!

You will not be feeling much bite from LCU device losses yet, but they do impact the supply you have when they get replaced. That also takes manpower and perhaps armament or vehicle points. Usually it is the supply the IJ player misses in 1945.

If you are having problems keeping up pilots for the navy, you should stop using KB to attack land targets. It is there to gain dominance at sea, not suppress airfields. Once you feel you have a good pool you can get adventurous.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
If you are having problems keeping up pilots for the navy, you should stop using KB to attack land targets. It is there to gain dominance at sea, not suppress airfields. Once you feel you have a good pool you can get adventurous.

I haven't used any CV-based aircraft to attack land targets since the turn 1 attack on Pearl. I lost a chunk of Kates and Vals to a cap trap in the Solomons a month or so back - they flew off unescorted and got mauled. But other than that we seem to be trading losses via cap traps and night strikes on airfields.

My navy pilot shortage is due to my tactic of enlarging the float plane units to 28ish on a CS and then training the hell out of them. Problem with that I have noticed, is when you send them to the Reserve pool they go into the Patrol section no matter what you train them in. I need to go through there and pull out the fighter pilots... I am also training ASW and low naval attack... I hope to flood him with kamikazes when I get them.

Xargun

[Xargun]

New turn in and processed and sent back to Nomad. He did what I thought and bombed Mandalay AF during the night with low moonlight but his B-25s and Wallingtons are just too accurate. They blew through the 30+ fighters I had on night CAP and destroyed 30 fighters on the ground [:@] I am abandoning the forward air bases of Magwe, Mandalay and Meiktila. All air units have been pulled out and AV is moving over the next 1-2 turns. They will rebase further south and farther away from the bombers at Imphal.

Xargun

[huda0816]

Two questions about India and China:

Did your opponent has to pay political points to withdraw his Chinese units to India?

Did you ever consider taking India after conquering China?

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: huda0816

Two questions about India and China:

Did your opponent has to pay political points to withdraw his Chinese units to India?

No - we are not playing with that house rule. So my units were able to follow him into Burma.

Did you ever consider taking India after conquering China?

I thought about an amphib assault along the coast but never really did it. I was a good two-three weeks behind getting my chinese units into Burma compared to his forces. Never having played the Allies I just don't know their oob well enough to know where they are weak - perhaps I could have pushed further north, but its probably an opportunity that I have lost.

Xargun

[durnedwolf]

ORIGINAL: Xargun

My troops have crossed into Singapore !! The initial shock attack went badly I feel with a ton of casualties on my side.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 112179 troops, 1225 guns, 642 vehicles, Assault Value = 3803

Defending force 56214 troops, 691 guns, 551 vehicles, Assault Value = 1284

Japanese adjusted assault: 2165

Allied adjusted defense: 2713

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 4)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker: shock(+), disruption(-)

Japanese ground losses:
17333 casualties reported
Squads: 300 destroyed, 1437 disabled
Non Combat: 57 destroyed, 170 disabled
Engineers: 4 destroyed, 79 disabled
Guns lost 135 (22 destroyed, 113 disabled)
Vehicles lost 94 (46 destroyed, 48 disabled)
Units destroyed 1

Allied ground losses:
3985 casualties reported
Squads: 73 destroyed, 117 disabled
Non Combat: 27 destroyed, 211 disabled
Engineers: 6 destroyed, 71 disabled
Guns lost 89 (15 destroyed, 74 disabled)
Vehicles lost 121 (21 destroyed, 100 disabled)
Units destroyed 1


Five of my units were decimated in the attack plus 1 small tank unit completely destroyed - had to buy him back. 17k losses is a lot. The disruption for everyone is in the 90's - it will be many days before they are fit to attack again.

Can you share what the Operations Mode was for your Troops? Where you in Move mode or Combat mode?

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: durnedwolf

Can you share what the Operations Mode was for your Troops? Where you in Move mode or Combat mode?

I honestly do not remember and that was months ago in real time - no way of looking - but usually when you are in Move mode it will say something in the modifier section.

Xargun

[durnedwolf]

I was just wondering if the reason your troops took such heavy losses (300 squads destroyed) was due to not crossing in Combat mode. I mean - sometimes you just get a really bad roll from the dice-gods but if you were in Move mode while crossing a river... Ouch.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: durnedwolf

I was just wondering if the reason your troops took such heavy losses (300 squads destroyed) was due to not crossing in Combat mode. I mean - sometimes you just get a really bad roll from the dice-gods but if you were in Move mode while crossing a river... Ouch.

As much as I micromanage everything I doubt very much any of my units were in Move mode. Just Singapore hates me... it always has and I have no doubt it will continue to in the future.

Xargun

[durnedwolf]

I'd buy that - I micro-manage too. I'm still wading through the posts to catch myself up to the current postings. [:)]

[durnedwolf]

Okay - caught up. You are in early '43 with no restrictions on troops.

Can you share with us your plans? It sounds like India is off the plate. Are you just sitting on what you have or are you going for something like Oz or the Aleutians ---> Alaska?

Are you setting up a defensive perimeter for later in the war when the allies get their second wind?

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: durnedwolf

Okay - caught up. You are in early '43 with no restrictions on troops.

Can you share with us your plans? It sounds like India is off the plate. Are you just sitting on what you have or are you going for something like Oz or the Aleutians ---> Alaska?

I toyed with the idea of invading Ceylon - even prepped 4 Divisons for the invasion. But just not sure I want to pull 4 Divs from Burma with him slowly advancing. I would require a good bit of shipping and naval escorts to do the invasion.

I have no desire to invade the Aleutians - just not much to gain there with a good chance of losing valuable naval assets to do it.

I think I may have lost my windows for more 'big' invasions now that we are in 43 -- just a clear example of my inexperience past the first 6months of the war.

Are you setting up a defensive perimeter for later in the war when the allies get their second wind?

I am hard at work building up multiple perimeters. I have engineers working on the major bases now and they will be built up to fort 6 (or 9). I am also improving a bunch of the small islands around Japan to include a level 1 or 2 airfield for fighters / light bombers and force the allies to amphib assault each of them to secure their lines. Wish I had more ACMs but I don't think I can convert anymore. As they will all have minefields as well.

I have a bunch of plans (and am working on them) but it is hard to explain.

Xargun

[Xargun]

Overall a slow turn except for air actions in Burma and South Pacific.

South Pacific:

36 Allied B-24D Liberators bomb the destroyed and deserted airfield at Rabaul deepening the craters that I am not filling in. In fact, almost all engineers and AV support have been gone from Rabaul for a month or so. I have very little combat forces south of Truk right now - maybe 100 Assault Strength in total at Rabaul, Gasmata, Kavieng, Manus, Finschhafen, Lae and Salamana. They are just placeholders to keep the bases from auto reverting to allied control and to make him assault them to take them - not sure if he knows how little strength I have in the area or not. But with KB operating out of Truk I am keeping him honest - if he wants to invade he needs to bring the kitchen sink or I hammer his invasion force -- though with the air bases at Shortlands and Torokina he can use land based fighters to cover his invasions and keep his CVs back to engage mine when/if they show. When he invades I will probably pop in, strike for a day and then withdraw. I don't want to lose any CVs over these useless southern islands.

I hope he hits the Marshalls first, which will allow me to strike and fade away much easier.

I am preparing Truk for a long siege. The base is maxed out for port and airfield (7 AF, 5 port) and level 8 forts - 58% on the way to level 9. Truk has over a 100k fuel and 60k supplies and will be a bastion that he has to be careful about until his takes it. I would like at least a 100k supplies there before he attacks and I should be able to do that easy.

I have a cargo TF enroute to Truk with 20k+ supplies but its real purpose is to pick up all the pieces of units there. The parent units are holding my southern bases and I brought a chunk of each unit out to replenish it easier once they are dead. These pieces need moved back to Japan proper - or perhaps some to the Marianas.


Burma:

With 100% moonlight I tried to hit the airfield at Akyab, but half my bombers flew off course and the rest were ineffective. Roughly 200 bombers were sent and only a handful of hits were scored. I also sent a unit of Nells against Silchar but they all missed as well [:@]

During the daylight two squadrons of Wellington Ics flew against the airfield at Meiktila and I had some 70+ skilled Tojo pilots waiting there...

Morning Air attack on Meiktila , at 58,47

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 16 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 6 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 31

Allied aircraft
Wellington Ic x 21

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 11 destroyed

CAP engaged:
260th Sentai with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (31 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
31 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 3000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 3000.
Raid is overhead

======
Morning Air attack on Meiktila , at 58,47

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid spotted at 1 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 0 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 20

Allied aircraft
Wellington Ic x 12

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Wellington Ic: 6 destroyed

Airbase hits 4
Airbase supply hits 2
Runway hits 10

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Wellington Ic bombing from 3000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
260th Sentai with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
20 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 3000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 137 minutes


All in all, the Tojo pilots were credited with 32 Wellington Ic kills. That has to be inflated but even so I believe I killed half the bombers so they should be out of service for a week or so repairing (SR 4) and gathering replacements -- if he has any.


In about a week engineer reinforcements will land at Bangkok for duty at Chiang Mai, Rahaeng, Uttaradit and Pisonuloke airfields. All of them are level 2 right now but I want a couple of them built up to level 4 to stage my 2E bombers out of as he closes in on Rangoon.


Xargun

[Xargun]

Massive night air raids on the airfields at Magwe by 2E bombers and Rangoon by 4E bombers. Nothing was at Magwe so the bombers went through without opposition other than a little AA. But at Rangoon I had 3 groups of fighters on night cap. Unfortunately the B-24Ds and Liberator IIs blew right through them decimating them. They interrupted the bombing runs so very little damage was scored on the fields, but between AA and ops loses, I lost 54 aircraft to a reported 3 allied kills - not sure I killed any as the score did not adjust but much.

Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 71 NM, estimated altitude 12,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 26 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 22
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 23
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 20

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 7

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 4 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 2 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 28 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 18
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 11
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 12

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 12

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Airbase hits 1
Runway hits 1

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 72 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 24 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 16
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 11
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 9

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 9

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 6 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed, 4 damaged

Runway hits 3

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 36 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 5
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 6

Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 7

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 1 damaged

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 23 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 5
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 5

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 6

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed on ground

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged

Runway hits 1

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 10 NM, estimated altitude 15,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 4
Ki-43-Ic Oscar x 3
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 4

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-Ic Oscar: 1 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 damaged

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid detected at 12 NM, estimated altitude 13,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes

Japanese aircraft
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 1

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 5

Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed

No Allied losses

Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 10000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

====
Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Clear sky

Raid spotted at 21 NM, estimated altitude 14,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D Liberator x 7

Allied aircraft losses
B-24D Liberator: 1 destroyed by flak




How am I supposed to handle raids like these with my fighters so ineffective? He will probably be back again tonight and my fighters are gutted by the first attack.

Xargun