Rising Sun, Falling Skies: BTSL Bigred vs John 3rd

[BBfanboy]

Easiest thing would have been to change the OP Mode of the troops remaining on land to Strategic so they could not load on your Amphib TF. That should make the Amphib TF follow the weigh anchor order because it could no longer load the unit.

[John 3rd]

That is a solid suggestion.

Paul wrote is up very accurately. It turned into a pretty nasty pair of turns for the Allies.

[bigred]

43-12-3:

[bigred]

43-12-9:

[bigred]

43-12-11:

[John 3rd]

December 13-14, 1943
Operations Report

Mid-December has been pretty fair to the Japanese so far. We have action in multiple fronts but the Japanese have continued to be able to sting and move wherever possible. Major action these two days features an Allied landing at Malden Isle using the 6th ID and 138th Inf Reg.

NOPAC
No major action these days. STF's moving around and CTF refuels and reprovisions.

Chirikof sees attacks by the Japanese reinforced ID upon two regiment-sized units there. Little headway is achieved against the entrenched American units.

CENPAC
Nothing Major

SouthEastPAC
Malden Isle
As stated at the beginning, the Allies land at Malden. The Isle was bombarded by a BC TF on the 12th and more TFs arrive on the 13th. They find a Japanese garrison READY to fight!

Day ONE of the landings sees the Japanese air at Christmas strike the enemy several times in a day. Prior to the landing occurring, 25 F and 16 TB blast their way through 18 F6F and attack shipping. Following them come 46 Judy DB. The results of the attacks are excellent: BB California takes a bomb, CVE Manila Bay takes a pair of bombs, and 8 AK takes single, double and triple hits. Multiple AKs, carrying fuel, are set afire and several sunk.

The landing occurs in the afternoon. Though strong, the attack does not breach the Japanese Fortifications and only scores a 1-2. Losses are fairly equal with about 500 lost on each side.

Day TWO sees Japanese SS arrive from other areas. I-169 puts a Torp in AK Augustus and then SINKS AK Grumium. Ro-61 misses an American DD and is then sunk in the ASW counterattack. Aerial action sees four attacks upon the enemy fleet. The Japanese encounter very few F6F and blast into the enemy TFs! Losses are real for the Allies as 5 Bombs SINK CVE Manila Bay, BB California is hit by 6 Bombs, DD McCook is probably sunk by a pair of bombs and two more DDs take single hits.

The ground fight maintains in Japan's favor. The Forts here are Lvl-5 and holding. The Shock Attacks yields only a 1-3 result. This day sees about 150 Japanese losses while the Allies lose over 1,000.

Situation Report--OK for the moment!

SOPAC
The enemy continues to move in closer to the Japanese defenses at Luganville. These days see a quick supply reinforcement set of TFs run into Luganville. These FastTF zip in to drop off 3,500 supplies. Air action is solid as 40+ Japanese ZERO and GEORGE provide defense over the shipping. Four American attacks come in and get beaten up pretty badly. No Japanese shipping casualties.

Burma
Ramree Isle--The Japanese bombard the base with 4 old BBs and do fine work blasting the base and aircraft.

Massive troop movements are occurring as the Allies and Japanese redeploy following the loss of Toungoo and Prome.

China
The mountain top hex of 81,44 is attacked both days scoring 1-1 attacks both days. The enemy hold and Japan's two ID run thru their supplies during the attack.

Home Islands
Japanese ASW TFs now patrol the Home Islands. One ASW unit finds and, hopefully, SINKS SS Tullibee with 14 DC hits.

[bigred]

43-12-19: this is the upcoming turn.

[bigred]

No naval air battle, but a possible overstacked attack at Xmas island. Sent in 60k of ground units. Island stack is 40k.
Units prepped 100.
corp prepped 97
Sopac prepped 95
Third amphib prepped 95%
37thdiv wiped out.
I recall in my last game with FatR I used 5 divisions fully prepped to take out Truk with 2 div. But I landed 2 div and rotated in new units.
Difficult situation for me.

[bigred]

Sandbox replay for 12-20: The suspected problem is I have landed an overstack invasion into XMAS island. the hex stack limit is 30k. Note my original invasion is over 60k troops in TF380. I parsed the invasion down to under 30k and asked John to make a rerun to see if this is the problem w my losses.

[John 3rd]

I like doing experiments like this. Am planning on running the turn this afternoon and we'll see if it was over-stacking actually causing all the trouble for the Allies.

Have really done a number on American Infantry Divisions over the last two months. Scratch 6th ID, 7th ID, 39th ID, 43rd ID, and 4th Marine ID. All these IDs have been beaten up with at least 50-75% losses.

[CaptBeefheart]

It will be interesting to see how the rerun of the Christmas Island invasion plays out. Cutting back on SeaBees and the like should help.

Cheers,
CB

[John 3rd]

I can OFFICIALLY say that I can do the landing at Christmas Isle in my SLEEP! Paul and I have run the turn several different ways. Though his unit landings get pretty well clocked with each option we have tried, I think we have settled on the reality that the Allies need to land on the SECOND day of any two day turn. In doing this, it enables the Allied player to decide whether or not to continue the assault. Additionally, the value of more shore bombardment and aircraft attack upon the LCUs helps bunches. Have FINALLY sent the revamped turn back to Paul and he is doing the orders for moving FORWARD.

Think this is a very valuable lesson learned here on player cooperation and being flexible with one's opponent. Paul was about ready to quit over these landings and we would have wasted eighteen months of work within the match. By simply agreeing to work on the issue/problem, this worry is now fixed. WE shall see what happens from this point forward in the campaign.

BANZAI!

[John 3rd]

Hello All.

I went into the RA Site to upload the newest versions of BTSL and BTSH and found that I had to convert the website to a new web page google format. Hmmm....

Had to call my 16-year old to help navigate through the changes!

New website created. It is very rough but the newest files are uploaded for BOTH scenarios. Can still click the bottom of my Post to be navigated there. Details will follow. LOTS Of changes to the Allied OOB set for December 7th. Should be A LOT of fun!

[bigred]

I can OFFICIALLY say that I can do the landing at Christmas Isle in my SLEEP! Paul and I have run the turn several different ways. Though his unit landings get pretty well clocked with each option we have tried, I think we have settled on the reality that the Allies need to land on the SECOND day of any two day turn. In doing this, it enables the Allied player to decide whether or not to continue the assault. Additionally, the value of more shore bombardment and aircraft attack upon the LCUs helps bunches. Have FINALLY sent the revamped turn back to Paul and he is doing the orders for moving FORWARD.

Think this is a very valuable lesson learned here on player cooperation and being flexible with one's opponent. Paul was about ready to quit over these landings and we would have wasted eighteen months of work within the match. By simply agreeing to work on the issue/problem, this worry is now fixed. WE shall see what happens from this point forward in the campaign.

BANZAI!

I admit to a problem with getting used to changes of Dababes. There is a hard cap limit to troop stacks. The infantry gets wiped out of overstacked above the limit. In base game I am used to just a supply problem on islands. I see the value of this rule because it keeps the IJA from doing a 20 division kill stack in china(like FatR did to me). I have to learn how to handle this new type of defense with my tools available. I have had to ask John for help. He has been understanding, but I still fear his naval aggression.

[John 3rd]

We are back up and running. Sent the new turn to Paul two days ago.

[bigred]

43-12-21: John forgot to sweep first and escort his planes.

[bigred]

43-12-22:

[bigred]

43-12-23:

[bigred]

43-12-24:

[BBfanboy]

What happened in that SBD-5 strike at Baker Island?
And was that a carrier group the Japanese were attacking SE of Christmas Island?