More Variants - The Allies ride again - No xargun please

[Nomad]

After a good amount of discussion between Xargun and myself, we have decided to implement this special rule to our Variant game:

Thinking about the allied airframe advance, If it is put in as a special then I would suggest something like the following:
If the Japanese player advanced an airframe from 1945 into 1943 by any means, in the month that it becomes available
the Allied player may advance a like airframe to arrive 6 months later, but that airframe must have been advanced
via Variant points to its maximum advancement. This would be most likely 6 months advancement. So if the Allied
player did not advance a jet fighter 6 months, then he would not be able to advance it now. The Allied player must
match CV to CV airframe, and non CV air frame to non CV airframe.

The idea is that the Allied player must spend Variant points to advance an aircraft for it to be available for this
rule. Otherwise an Allied player could just not advance anything banking on the Japanese player doing it for him.

We both felt that there would be a fairly long section in the game where Japan could basically rule the map with its Sam fighters and CV/CVL fleet.
So we discussed ways in which to try and limit that time period.

[Nomad]

January 23, 1942

My production blocker didn't last long at Palembang, he destroyed it.

A Shock Attack at Tsiaotso

Ground combat at Tsiaotso (88,42)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 24330 troops, 141 guns, 774 vehicles, Assault Value = 1033

Defending force 44864 troops, 236 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 1107

Japanese adjusted assault: 926

Allied adjusted defense: 2896

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 3 (fort level 2)

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

Japanese ground losses:
1518 casualties reported
Squads: 24 destroyed, 73 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 62 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
Guns lost 8 (1 destroyed, 7 disabled)
Vehicles lost 140 (10 destroyed, 130 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2109 casualties reported
Squads: 19 destroyed, 109 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 23 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 20 disabled
Guns lost 13 (1 destroyed, 12 disabled)

Assaulting units:
3rd Tank Regiment
8th Recon Regiment
35th Division
20th Recon Regiment
16th Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
1st Recon Regiment
11th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
27th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps
41st Chinese Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
98th Chinese Corps
15th Group Army

They only thing I can say is he is losing troops also. We will see how things progress in the future. I am committed to defending China this game.

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[Nomad]

January 24, 1942

Another quiet turn. B-17Es take out 5-7 oil at Palembang. That is all

Note how small the combat reports are getting.

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[Nomad]

January 25, 1942

Not so quiet today.

B-17Es damaged another 10 oil at Palembang, every one counts.
They also shot down a Nate and an Oscar.

He crossed the causeway at Singapore today.

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Shock attack

Attacking force 83912 troops, 823 guns, 521 vehicles, Assault Value = 2776

Defending force 55529 troops, 657 guns, 516 vehicles, Assault Value = 1161

Japanese adjusted assault: 1903

Allied adjusted defense: 2007

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
10054 casualties reported
Squads: 68 destroyed, 654 disabled
Non Combat: 43 destroyed, 138 disabled
Engineers: 50 destroyed, 137 disabled
Guns lost 29 (5 destroyed, 24 disabled)
Vehicles lost 76 (16 destroyed, 60 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
3213 casualties reported
Squads: 29 destroyed, 329 disabled
Non Combat: 8 destroyed, 144 disabled
Engineers: 2 destroyed, 78 disabled
Guns lost 72 (4 destroyed, 68 disabled)
Vehicles lost 43 (1 destroyed, 42 disabled)

Assaulting units:
4th Ind. Engineer Regiment
143rd Infantry Regiment
113th Infantry Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
18th Division
41st Infantry Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
38th Division
56th Engineer Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
1st Tank Regiment
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
5th Division
I./124th Infantry Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
3rd Mortar Battalion
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion
56th Field Artillery Regiment
54th Const Co

Defending units:
11th Indian Division
2nd Gordons Battalion
SSVF Brigade
22nd Australian Brigade
27th Australian Brigade
1st Hyderabad Battalion
2/17 Dogra Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
1st Malay Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
1st Manchester Battalion
2nd Malay Battalion
9th Indian Division
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
111th RAF Base Force
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
AHQ Far East
223 Group RAF
III Indian Corps
112th RAF Base Force
Singapore Base Force
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
2nd ISF Base Force
224 Group RAF
Singapore Fortress
109th RAF Base Force
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Malayan Air Wing
110th RAF Base Force
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
Malaya Army
109th RN Base Force

Ground bombing cost him 8 bombers also

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I expect it to take a while before he can attack. One good thing, he did not reduce the forts and they grew to 5 today.
I am not going to do any real exhausting analysis, but the 11th Indian Infantry Division took the bulk of the losses.

====================================================================
At Tsiaotso a Deliberate Attack by Japan was replused.

Ground combat at Tsiaotso (88,42)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 23437 troops, 142 guns, 772 vehicles, Assault Value = 931

Defending force 43369 troops, 235 guns, 0 vehicles, Assault Value = 938

Japanese adjusted assault: 456

Allied adjusted defense: 1174

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

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), leaders(+), preparation(-), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1733 casualties reported
Squads: 39 destroyed, 163 disabled
Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 42 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 6 disabled
Guns lost 23 (6 destroyed, 17 disabled)
Vehicles lost 76 (4 destroyed, 72 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
503 casualties reported
Squads: 10 destroyed, 105 disabled
Non Combat: 2 destroyed, 14 disabled
Engineers: 0 destroyed, 8 disabled
Guns lost 11 (1 destroyed, 10 disabled)

Assaulting units:
20th Recon Regiment
16th Ind.Mixed Brigade
5th Tank Regiment
10th Tank Regiment
1st Recon Regiment
3rd Tank Regiment
9th Tank Regiment
35th Division
8th Recon Regiment
11th Tank Regiment

Defending units:
41st Chinese Corps
27th Chinese Corps
92nd Chinese Corps
2nd Chinese Cavalry Corps
93rd Chinese Corps
98th Chinese Corps
15th Group Army

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[Nomad]

January 26, 1942

10 x B-17Es bombed the oil at Palembang at night, but got no hits, but they did shoot down 4 Oscars.

HIs bombardment attack at Singapore didn't do much

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[Nomad]

January 27, 1942

19 x B-17Es night bombed oil at Palembang, damaged 1, but shot down 2 Oscars and a Nate.

He lost 5 Lilly sand a sally bombing Singapore. A Bombardment attack by Japan at Singapore, light losses for both sides.

At sea we sink DD Isonami with O-24 putting 3 torpedoes into her.
SS KXIV put a torpedo into APD Kaisyo Maru.

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[CaptBeefheart]

Thinking about the allied airframe advance, If it is put in as a special then I would suggest something like the following:
If the Japanese player advanced an airframe from 1945 into 1943 by any means, in the month that it becomes available
the Allied player may advance a like airframe to arrive 6 months later, but that airframe must have been advanced
via Variant points to its maximum advancement. This would be most likely 6 months advancement. So if the Allied
player did not advance a jet fighter 6 months, then he would not be able to advance it now. The Allied player must
match CV to CV airframe, and non CV air frame to non CV airframe.

The idea is that the Allied player must spend Variant points to advance an aircraft for it to be available for this
rule. Otherwise an Allied player could just not advance anything banking on the Japanese player doing it for him.

So, if he brings in say the Shinden in 1943, you can get P-47Ns, Bearcats or P-51Hs six months later? That would be interesting. What aircraft types do you expect him to bring up from '45 to '43?

Cheers,
CB

[Nomad]

I expect him to advance Sams, Franks, Shindens, and Jets. I will not be able to advance my jets, I didn't advance them myself. For Sams I can advance either F4U-4 or Bearcats. For Franks or Shindens I could advance P-47N or P-51H. P-51H would be very interesting, actually a good counter to his jets and better than any other aircraft he gets.

[Nomad]

January 28, 1942

Benkoelen on Sumatra is lost, Butuan on Mindanao is lost.

B-17Es night bombed the oil at Palembang, but I am not sure anything got hit.
They did shoot down a few fighters.

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[BBfanboy]

I've never seen the P-51H used, but my impression of the entire P-51 line is that it is too fragile. The P-47 is so tough it does not suffer the same losses - important when you will be fighting over enemy bases.

[Nomad]

Here is the comparison between the two. The P-51H does have a lower durability but faster top speed and much better maneuver. Plus I get about 4 times as many P-51Hs as P-47Ns.
I think that as long as I can generate very well trained pilots they can avoid being shot down and with high experience can use their high speed to reduce the maneuver of the Frank, Shinden,
and Ki-201s.

p-47n vs p-51H.png (66.78 KiB) Viewed 1181 times

[Nomad]

January 29, 1942

Xarguns clean up of bases continues. Singkep falls. Singkawang falls. Chuhsien falls/
Bombardment attack at Singapore nets him a few casualties.

Mines outside of Palembang get two ASW ships

TF 105 encounters mine field at 49,90

Japanese Ships
E Shimushu, Mine hits 1, heavy damage
PB Chosa Maru, Mine hits 1, on fire, heavy damage

Sinking sound heard during turn.

B-17Es bomb the oil at Palembang, no hits recorded, but 6 Nate and 2 Oscars are lost.

He night bombed Singapore, no damage, but he didn't lose any aircraft either.

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[Nomad]

January 30, 1942

18 x B-17Es bomb the oil at Palembang in overcast weather conditions and all miss there target.
But the enemy loses 2 Oscars and 1 Nate to air-2-air and 2 Oscars to ops.

Japans bombardment attack at Singapore does minimal damage.

KB2 is spotted off of Tarakan, escorting an invasion I suppose.

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[Nomad]

January 31, 1942

Amphibious landing at Tarakan, a number of ships were hit by CD guns

A DA attack at Singapore

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 77579 troops, 811 guns, 513 vehicles, Assault Value = 2343

Defending force 54157 troops, 660 guns, 527 vehicles, Assault Value = 877

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 4

Japanese adjusted assault: 1575

Allied adjusted defense: 2225

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

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

Japanese ground losses:
4593 casualties reported
Squads: 21 destroyed, 332 disabled
Non Combat: 4 destroyed, 71 disabled
Engineers: 25 destroyed, 51 disabled
Vehicles lost 120 (21 destroyed, 99 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
2103 casualties reported
Squads: 23 destroyed, 266 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 51 disabled
Engineers: 1 destroyed, 35 disabled
Guns lost 44 (4 destroyed, 40 disabled)
Vehicles lost 26 (1 destroyed, 25 disabled)

Assaulting units:
1st Tank Regiment
56th Engineer Regiment
56th Recon Regiment
143rd Infantry Regiment
38th Division
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
113th Infantry Regiment
148th Infantry Regiment
5th Division
18th Division
14th Tank Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
41st Infantry Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
5th Mortar Battalion
56th Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
22nd Australian Brigade
2/17 Dogra Battalion
11th Indian Division
SSVF Brigade
1st Malay Battalion
2nd Malay Battalion
2nd Gordons Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
27th Australian Brigade
1st Hyderabad Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
9th Indian Division
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
111th RAF Base Force
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
Singapore Base Force
III Indian Corps
AHQ Far East
Malaya Army
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
109th RAF Base Force
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
223 Group RAF
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
112th RAF Base Force
Malayan Air Wing
224 Group RAF
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
2nd ISF Base Force
110th RAF Base Force
Singapore Fortress
109th RN Base Force

Oosthaven was taken by Japan today.

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[Nomad]

February 1, 1942

A new month

Not much happened. I am resting my B-17Es, they were getting quite fatigued.

My troops repelled attacks at Tarakan and Malaybalay.

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[PzB74]

Good to see that you’re still at it Nomad

[Nomad]

February 2, 1942

PZB, how are you? What have you been up to?
I took a break for a while, but had to come back, can't stay away.

SS O23 sank a DMS near Muntok.

ASW forces may have sunk SS I-7 near Noumea.

His shock attack at Tarakan lowered the forts to 0.

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[PzB74]

Life I guess
Had a look at my old WitP files - got a drive with hundreds of screens, plans & statistics.
Reminded me how much time it actually takes to run a war!-)
My next game will be after I retire…

But I did load up a Guadalcanal scenario, it’s great to review while reading Pacific WW2 history.
Has the game changed much since the “old days”?

Also found this picture of my old WitP AE table map

90CC3C8E-6791-4F45-B5C9-347A83BE7402.jpeg (752.72 KiB) Viewed 1101 times

[Nomad]

Nice map John. I see you have not posted in WitP AE forum since your game versus AndyMac in 2012. There were quite large updates in 2014 and 2016, I have no idea if they solved any of the problems
you were having, but there were a lot of changes. I am really liking the Variant games, they are interesting to say the least. Xargun and I are working out some kinks in them now.

February 3, 1942

Singapore DA

Ground combat at Singapore (50,84)

Japanese Deliberate attack

Attacking force 74013 troops, 805 guns, 368 vehicles, Assault Value = 2119

Defending force 53190 troops, 660 guns, 531 vehicles, Assault Value = 724

Japanese engineers reduce fortifications to 3

Japanese adjusted assault: 1345

Allied adjusted defense: 1979

Japanese assault odds: 1 to 2 (fort level 3)

Combat modifiers
Defender: terrain(+), forts(+), leaders(+), experience(-)
Attacker:

Japanese ground losses:
1833 casualties reported
Squads: 26 destroyed, 159 disabled
Non Combat: 3 destroyed, 72 disabled
Engineers: 90 destroyed, 21 disabled
Guns lost 23 (3 destroyed, 20 disabled)
Vehicles lost 26 (3 destroyed, 23 disabled)

Allied ground losses:
1072 casualties reported
Squads: 92 destroyed, 85 disabled
Non Combat: 1 destroyed, 61 disabled
Engineers: 10 destroyed, 40 disabled
Guns lost 61 (13 destroyed, 48 disabled)
Vehicles lost 34 (2 destroyed, 32 disabled)

Assaulting units:
23rd Ind. Engineer Regiment
56th Engineer Regiment
33rd Division
143rd Infantry Regiment
38th Division
113th Infantry Regiment
18th Division
148th Infantry Regiment
14th Tank Regiment
5th Division
15th Ind. Engineer Regiment
144th Infantry Regiment
41st Infantry Regiment
18th Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Medium Field Artillery Regiment
3rd Mortar Battalion
5th Mortar Battalion
56th Field Artillery Regiment
25th Army
14th Ind.Art.Mortar Battalion

Defending units:
22nd Australian Brigade
2nd Malay Battalion
1st Malay Battalion
2nd Gordons Battalion
2nd Loyal Battalion
11th Indian Division
SSVF Brigade
2/17 Dogra Battalion
1st Manchester Battalion
3rd Cavalry Regiment
27th Australian Brigade
1st Hyderabad Battalion
9th Indian Division
1st Indian Heavy AA Regiment
Singapore Fortress
110th RAF Base Force
109th RAF Base Force
223 Group RAF
2nd HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
Singapore Base Force
3rd Heavy AA Regiment
III Indian Corps
22nd Indian Mountain Gun Regiment
24th NZ Pioneer Coy
1st HK&S Heavy AA Regiment
224 Group RAF
Malaya Army
2nd ISF Base Force
112th RAF Base Force
AHQ Far East
3rd HK&S Light AA Regiment
Malayan Air Wing
111th RAF Base Force
109th RN Base Force

At least it is expensive for him to take. That is about all I can ask for.

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[T Rav]

Singapore looks pretty bloody