A War to be Won - DesertWolf101 (A) vs Wirraway_Ace (J)

[DesertWolf101]

April 24

Time for a bit of catch up. Both Wirraway and I have been traveling so turns were very sparse over the last few weeks, but we are back at it. China remains the busiest front by far with a massive Japanese effort to push forward. Since the fall of Sian I have blunted all Japanese attempts to advance in the north and center, but will have to give way in the southwest soon as unrestricted Japanese divisions arrive to maneuver around my positions. I will post some maps of the situation, but here is the latest big battle in China:

Kungchang Defense.jpg (75.17 KiB) Viewed 1331 times

[DesertWolf101]

Chinese forces are dug in along the mountains north and west of Sian and have continuously rebuffed all Japanese attempts to push through - for now at least.

China1.jpg (475.12 KiB) Viewed 1329 times

[DesertWolf101]

Chinese forces are also holding their ground in the center around Changsha. The problem area is in the Liuchow-Kweilin sector where I will have to soon fall back to better terrain.

China 2.jpg (434.85 KiB) Viewed 1327 times

[DesertWolf101]

Burma - This is where my troops are already advancing forward. Commonwealth forces are marching down the coastal road from Akyab but this is still very early in the war and I am being cautious about the potential of enemy landings behind my troops. Still, I feel pretty confident about this front.

Burma.jpg (414.77 KiB) Viewed 1321 times

[DesertWolf101]

Wirraway has not launched any more invasions (not even northern Australia!) and the IJN has remained very quiet over the past weeks. I wonder if he is conserving fuel given my heavy blows to his oil? Overall score remains pretty good. No chance for a Japanese autovictory unless I royally screwup. I think the game now revolves around whether I can force a Japanese surrender before August 1945.

Overall Score.jpg (139.16 KiB) Viewed 1317 times

[BBfanboy]

Early on the Japanese often bombard Allied troops marching down the coast road toward Rangoon. Is that a probable scenario in this game or has he lost too many warships to risk more in the IO/Bay of Bengal?

[DesertWolf101]

Early on the Japanese often bombard Allied troops marching down the coast road toward Rangoon. Is that a probable scenario in this game or has he lost too many warships to risk more in the IO/Bay of Bengal?

The IJN has been blooded (having lost some 4 heavy cruisers and a battleship) but is still very dangerous. It wouldn't surprise me if Wirraway bombards my forces marching down the coast road. If he does however, I hope to get the chance to knock out some more of his warships.

[GetAssista]

but here is the latest big battle in China: Kungchang Defense.jpg

Sweet, especially with this kins of total AV advantage on his side. Tank-only attacks are dicey in hard terrain, and I presume some AT guns

Early on the Japanese often bombard Allied troops marching down the coast road toward Rangoon. Is that a probable scenario in this game or has he lost too many warships to risk more in the IO/Bay of Bengal?

Does it happen that often though? Those are Jungle hexes limiting bombardment accuracy and casualties a lot. And Japan would have its SCTF remain on station to commence bombardment in a non-base hex, which leaves it vulnerable to air attacks with no solid CAP source nearby

[DesertWolf101]

Sweet, especially with this kins of total AV advantage on his side. Tank-only attacks are dicey in hard terrain, and I presume some AT guns

Yup, both Chinese AT gun regiments were positioned there.

[DesertWolf101]

April 25, 1942

I infiltrated a squadron of Warhawks into Luzon to ambush Wirraway's bombing of Clark airfield with the below result. Interestingly enough, this is one of those rare occasions were enemy losses were undercounted. 47 Sonias were actually shot down, not 41.

Sonia Hunt.jpg (113.4 KiB) Viewed 1225 times

[DesertWolf101]

April 26, 1942

Two important battles in China today. Having failed to crack my defenses in the north with an all armor attack, Wirraway decides to also send in his infantry divisions in a new attack.

Kungchang.jpg (70.32 KiB) Viewed 1188 times

[DesertWolf101]

The other Japanese attack was another effort against Changsha. Wirraway has around 250 Sallys and 50 Sonias in China which he used to hammer the Changsha defenders over the previous week before this latest attack. The Chinese held their ground.

Changsha.jpg (70.25 KiB) Viewed 1187 times

[DesertWolf101]

April 27 - May 1, 1942

Some interesting developments over the past few days. On the 27th of April, American heavy bombers sank a Japanese AV tender that was supporting a Japanese Mavis unit out of Luganville. Wirraway holds New Caledonia and the New Hebrides but with only a very light garrison. I think he is using them to enhance his recon/naval search and potentially as bait for a carrier battle.

The skies of Burma have essentially been abandoned by the IJAAF for several weeks as the Japanese continue to throw everything they have against China. The Japanese finally show up with a hundred fighters deployed to Toungoo, so I launched the first Allied night attack of the war and destroyed ten fighters on the ground with my heavy bombers.

China continues to resist. Wirraway attempted to overwhelm my rearguard blocking position just north of Kukong but to no avail.

Kukong.jpg (63.76 KiB) Viewed 1131 times

[DesertWolf101]

We also enter the new month of May with a bang as the Japanese finally launch an attack on the Dutch garrison at Bandoeng. The results for the enemy weren't pretty....

Bandoeng.jpg (75.21 KiB) Viewed 1130 times

[DesertWolf101]

May 2-3, 1942

Wirraway sent up a large number of Oscars to contest another nighttime B-17 bombing raid on the 2nd of May and the heavy bombers cut through the fighters like a knife through butter, shooting ten of them down to no loss. I therefore suggested to Wirraway that we limit night time bombing of non-city/industry targets to only 95-100% moonlight nights. I think this is a good way to limit some of the overpowered nature of the night bombing routine with 4E aircraft.

On the 3rd the Japanese tried another all armor/artillery attack against Changhsa, likely in and effort to reduce fortifications at minimal casualties. The attack failed however, and the result is below.

War in the Pacific - Admiral Edition (1.8.11.26b) 17_04_2022 8_58_24 AM (2).png (130.99 KiB) Viewed 1081 times

[DesertWolf101]

May 6, 1942

Nothing much happened over the last few days. Today however the Japanese attempted another attack in northern China.

The next turn should be interesting. I am launching a daring carrier raid into very dangerous territory. My CVs will dash in from over the horizon towards Java in an attempt to strike at a number of targets. Primary goal is the oil at Soerabaja, but I also got some good SIGINT traffic which seems to show significant Japanese shipping heading toward the port - we shall see if the CV dive-bombers pick up anything of note. I could very well be arriving a few turns too early/late. Beyond enemy threats, the other big concern is weather. Forecast shows thunderstorms - it could all be for naught.

Tienshui.jpg (69.48 KiB) Viewed 1030 times

[DesertWolf101]

May 7, 1942

The CVs charged in but as feared their mission was hampered by severe weather. Thunderstorms over Soerabaja negatively affected the aim of the torpedo bombers that were tasked with hitting the oil, but even so they still managed to knock out 48 wells which marks yet another important blow to the Japanese economy.

The dive-bombers were tasked with hitting any shipping with a secondary mission of attacking Soerabaja's port. They ended up going for a bunch of small task forces around the island (no sign of any larger troop convoy) and sunk a few minor ships and a destroyer. Dismal weather once again interfered with the accuracy. Interesting to find out that a large number of Japanese battleships were in port. Now I am trying to decide what to do next. I am fairly sure the KB is in the Pacific, but I am not particularly keen to keep my CVs at risk for little gain.

Java Raid.jpg (232.29 KiB) Viewed 986 times

[DesertWolf101]

May 12, 1942

I ended up deciding to pull back my CVs instead of risking them further. Besides the danger of the KB showing up, Wirraway was also bound to flood the area with fighters which would make my strikes too expensive. I had lost almost ten planes in the carrier raid already (but no pilots!), and that was against no air opposition. Carrier aircraft are still in relative short supply for the Americans at this stage of the game. Interestingly, as my carriers pulled out, they did stumble on a Japanese submarine that fired a spread - luckily it missed.

Meanwhile the Dutch at Bandoeng came under another Imperial attack. Unfortunately this time the forts were knocked down a level. Result is below.

[DesertWolf101]

The Chinese continue to hold up nicely in China but the pressure is mounting. Wirraway brought an army of 3,347 AV (with many unrestricted units in the mix) to the gates of Kweilin so I pulled back my garrison of 2,268 AV to better terrain. I am also using the stacking limits to my best advantage whenever I am faced with very large enemy armies, forcing them to either approach with a smaller and more manageable force or pay the price for exceeding the limit. It's a tough one though, Wirraway is pouring everything he has into the theater, including practically all his armor and more than 300 two-engine bombers!

With no Japanese air pressure virtually anywhere else, I find myself in a relatively strange game where the bulk of my air units (especially fighters) spend almost all their time training. In terms of the USAAF alone, I have more than 1,000 fighter pilots with 70+ air skill and 70+ defense! I am now concentrating on building up their flying experience levels. What would you guys recommend as the optimal experience level before sending fighter squadrons into combat?

[DesertWolf101]

May 13-17, 1942

Wirraway launched another attack on Changsha and this time the Japanese knocked down fort levels from 4 to 3. I mentioned this a few times before - Wirraway is bringing in overwhelming forces into China, so it's going to be very hard to hold on over the longer term. Besides essentially all his armor and non-nettie bombers, I have also counted 5 divisions from Manchuria and a few more from his initial unrestricted infantry division roster.

Changsha.jpg (74.85 KiB) Viewed 847 times