After a few months hiatus, my JFB itch needed scratching again, so with LST's help I put together a scenario with a few changes from his 'Bottlenecks - simplified production' mod. The full changelog & house rules:
The biggest addition to the usual WiTP-AE Japanese woes is that every supply point and ton of fuel matters. Japan has 34(!) days of resources in the Home Islands at game start & Tracker says I am over 20k fuel a day in the hole. Certainly there are a lot of resources in Hokkaido & China/Manchukuo, but the Home Islands need 213 000 resources a day shipped in to cover industry needs. DBB-c, which Bottlenecks is based on, reduced hull sizes so most of IJN hulls are in 3k or less in capacity, further increasing the need for ships & fuel to run them.
Supplies are only produced by LI, which means very little will be created outside Japan proper, only about 2k/day at game start. Good news is that LI repair only costs 250 supplies, so LI is worth expanding in key areas outside Japan that I expect to hold long enough. HI will also only be expanded outside Japan, if at all.
We are playing the new beta, with a large impact I expect being the increased ops losses during Air training. Because of this I will need to keep older single engine bombers in production & make sure to train the first pass on those. I am curious to know if these ops losses will still occur if I keep training squadrons on low height, say 2k for most mission types, to keep the fatigue levels low.
Given these global constraints, the general strategic goals are clear - capture as much oil as possible as fast as possible, then push the Allies as far beyond heavy bomber range of it as possible. Nothing surprising there, of course & as usual, the enemy will probably have something to say about it as well.
There are some other changes, most notable of mine is allowing all AT guns and few selected field gun types to act as Naval guns during invasions or naval bombardments. The idea is that if a unit tasked with island or coastal defense has direct-fire weapons available, they will emplace at least some of them in positions to be able to engage enemy landing ships, or bombarding vessels brave or foolish enough to come close to unsuppressed dug in guns. I do not see this having too much of an effect when landing against smaller units, but a division sized formation should be able to poke a few holes in a landing force!
Goals were set & will be kept, but tactics will be to be fluid to anticipate (or react to) your opponent. At the end, this is a PBEM game and I am playing my opponent - a real person, just as much as your opponents' OOB!
I will be keeping this AAR behind the events, say a week or so unless something major is about to go down.
Game Over Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
Game Over Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Last edited by JanSako on Fri Jun 30, 2023 7:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
At some bases, I don't think that the entire division was on beach defense. In the game, I have seen where 40mm AA guns sank vessels and other artillery put holes into ships. But each to their own I suppose.
As far as expanding LI is concerned, I always thought that 1000 supply points to repair was too expensive especially considering what LI is. As far as HI and Refineries not making supplies . . .
Anyway, expand the LI at Fusan to cause a lot of Resources to flow there which can then be quickly transported 2 hexes to Japan.
As far as expanding LI is concerned, I always thought that 1000 supply points to repair was too expensive especially considering what LI is. As far as HI and Refineries not making supplies . . .
Anyway, expand the LI at Fusan to cause a lot of Resources to flow there which can then be quickly transported 2 hexes to Japan.
Seek peace but keep your gun handy.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
; Julia Child
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
; Julia ChildRe: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Situation after a few days, will post some screenies after I get the next turn back:
Two main goals that any Japan player, and especially in Bottlenecks, needs to always keep in mind are speed & precision.
In my previous game it took way too long for me to take both Singers & Manila, the latter being not as important if properly managed, but still, having 2-3 full divisions available a few months earlier would make a lot of difference 'elsewhere'. Hope to do better this time!
CenPac - One of the things I did differently this time was to go for a second PH strike (Bottlenecks starts on Dec 8th, so the Dec 7 surprise results are already baked in). Except it did not work!!! Kido came steaming back out of the vastness of Pacific, Zeros swept away feeble Allied opposition but both Kido's hex & Pearl were under thunderstorms so no Port strike was launched. I tried again the next day, slightly repositioning Kido to make it harder for enemy subs. Again Allied fighters were swept away, the raid went in despite the thunderstorms - and 140+ Kates achieved exactly 3(!) bomb hits on 2 different BB's, with zero damage. Flak losses were not too heavy, we came in at 10k so it must have been the weather.
Intel still shows 70+ ships in the harbor, including subs. It is so tempting to go back again since I still expect no Allied fighters (I suppose he could fly in the 2 units from his CV's that have to be lurking someplace nearby). We shall see.
SoPac - an advance light SNLF unit landed in Rabaul on the 10th, with more coming up behind. He 'should' have had no time to bring up RAN, they might still be able to take the base even if something does show up tomorrow.
PI/DEI - the usual, landings on Northern Luzon & S of Davao, no opposition so far. Surprisingly my port attacks on Manila on the 8th found a number of ships still in port (maybe he thought ~50 allied fighters can stop the Zeros, not sure), with at least 3-4 subs expected sunk and a few more the next day, as well as the usual mix of other ship types.
His NAV search is pretty thorough so I am a bit worried what he's gonna do with all that info!
I caught some of the thundering herd, including an AS, a few PG's & other support ships and the Dewey floating dock. Small chance if it getting away, but it can help a lot if it does! Mini-KB larva is lurking in the Celebes sea with a covering SCTF, but bad weather prevented any strikes so far. I am reluctant to release the CA's to hunt in case the DEI combat units show up.
China - massive reshuffling. There are hundreds of bases needing garrisons in this mod, basically the whole China is covered in bases. Large areas in the Japanese rear are controlled by partisans, by which I mean some partisan corps (150AV if full) and an occasional full Chinese corps or two! No offensive actions commenced yet, apart of me trying to bomb the Chinese river boat flotilla in Chunking (a single bomb hit so far), and again, surprising result of the Dec 8th port attacks on Hong Kong - a few good hits were landed on the British destroyers. Not enough, apparently (50kg bombs can only do so much), as a couple of days later those pests smashed a couple of precious DMS in the middle of South China sea. HK assault forces are a day or so out.
Malaya- Here I have made a second, for me unusual decision & went for Mersing Gambit. The first units landed on the 8th, with many more and an attack following on the 9th. An advanced recon regiment was able to pursue the retreating Aussie brigade all the way to Kuantan so the railroad to Singers is cut. Even if the follow up units are a dy late & the recon guys get kicked out, any Strat moving units will have to stop in & by the next day I will get there in force. More units are going SW towards Johore to make sure the connection stays severed.
I have every available ship covering the landings (subs, light, medium & heavy SCTF's), but still I did expect he would try to interfere so I forgone the usual prep-bombardments to save ammo. Singers had massive storms the last few days which prevented me from flying sweeps but maybe that is why the Brit airforce did not show either. Fighters flying LRCAP from Kota are now very tired & need a break but Mersing is size 0 so need to snatch another base first.
Some loaded tankers were hit by Netties yesterday in the straits N of Singapore; that was an interesting move risking those ships to deny me some 20-30k tons of fuel (if they were full to the brim). Allied player does get a load of tankers but also needs them in the beginning to stock up Australia. I think there may be some loading in Palembang too, let's see what I can do about them!
Two main goals that any Japan player, and especially in Bottlenecks, needs to always keep in mind are speed & precision.
In my previous game it took way too long for me to take both Singers & Manila, the latter being not as important if properly managed, but still, having 2-3 full divisions available a few months earlier would make a lot of difference 'elsewhere'. Hope to do better this time!
CenPac - One of the things I did differently this time was to go for a second PH strike (Bottlenecks starts on Dec 8th, so the Dec 7 surprise results are already baked in). Except it did not work!!! Kido came steaming back out of the vastness of Pacific, Zeros swept away feeble Allied opposition but both Kido's hex & Pearl were under thunderstorms so no Port strike was launched. I tried again the next day, slightly repositioning Kido to make it harder for enemy subs. Again Allied fighters were swept away, the raid went in despite the thunderstorms - and 140+ Kates achieved exactly 3(!) bomb hits on 2 different BB's, with zero damage. Flak losses were not too heavy, we came in at 10k so it must have been the weather.
Intel still shows 70+ ships in the harbor, including subs. It is so tempting to go back again since I still expect no Allied fighters (I suppose he could fly in the 2 units from his CV's that have to be lurking someplace nearby). We shall see.
SoPac - an advance light SNLF unit landed in Rabaul on the 10th, with more coming up behind. He 'should' have had no time to bring up RAN, they might still be able to take the base even if something does show up tomorrow.
PI/DEI - the usual, landings on Northern Luzon & S of Davao, no opposition so far. Surprisingly my port attacks on Manila on the 8th found a number of ships still in port (maybe he thought ~50 allied fighters can stop the Zeros, not sure), with at least 3-4 subs expected sunk and a few more the next day, as well as the usual mix of other ship types.
His NAV search is pretty thorough so I am a bit worried what he's gonna do with all that info!
I caught some of the thundering herd, including an AS, a few PG's & other support ships and the Dewey floating dock. Small chance if it getting away, but it can help a lot if it does! Mini-KB larva is lurking in the Celebes sea with a covering SCTF, but bad weather prevented any strikes so far. I am reluctant to release the CA's to hunt in case the DEI combat units show up.
China - massive reshuffling. There are hundreds of bases needing garrisons in this mod, basically the whole China is covered in bases. Large areas in the Japanese rear are controlled by partisans, by which I mean some partisan corps (150AV if full) and an occasional full Chinese corps or two! No offensive actions commenced yet, apart of me trying to bomb the Chinese river boat flotilla in Chunking (a single bomb hit so far), and again, surprising result of the Dec 8th port attacks on Hong Kong - a few good hits were landed on the British destroyers. Not enough, apparently (50kg bombs can only do so much), as a couple of days later those pests smashed a couple of precious DMS in the middle of South China sea. HK assault forces are a day or so out.
Malaya- Here I have made a second, for me unusual decision & went for Mersing Gambit. The first units landed on the 8th, with many more and an attack following on the 9th. An advanced recon regiment was able to pursue the retreating Aussie brigade all the way to Kuantan so the railroad to Singers is cut. Even if the follow up units are a dy late & the recon guys get kicked out, any Strat moving units will have to stop in & by the next day I will get there in force. More units are going SW towards Johore to make sure the connection stays severed.
I have every available ship covering the landings (subs, light, medium & heavy SCTF's), but still I did expect he would try to interfere so I forgone the usual prep-bombardments to save ammo. Singers had massive storms the last few days which prevented me from flying sweeps but maybe that is why the Brit airforce did not show either. Fighters flying LRCAP from Kota are now very tired & need a break but Mersing is size 0 so need to snatch another base first.
Some loaded tankers were hit by Netties yesterday in the straits N of Singapore; that was an interesting move risking those ships to deny me some 20-30k tons of fuel (if they were full to the brim). Allied player does get a load of tankers but also needs them in the beginning to stock up Australia. I think there may be some loading in Palembang too, let's see what I can do about them!
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Yep, I know there are checks for army devices engaging landing ships & I have seen 18 pdr howitzers & 3.7 AA guns both score hits on ships before. I just felt it was too rare. Those AT-guns have only a range of 2k but they will try to poke holes in any ship that comes too close. I am also hoping to cause a bit more attrition to mid-game 'bombardment round-robin's. Or make bombardment raids stay a further bit offshore.RangerJoe wrote: Sat Jun 17, 2023 11:59 am At some bases, I don't think that the entire division was on beach defense. In the game, I have seen where 40mm AA guns sank vessels and other artillery put holes into ships. But each to their own I suppose.
As far as expanding LI is concerned, I always thought that 1000 supply points to repair was too expensive especially considering what LI is. As far as HI and Refineries not making supplies . . .
Anyway, expand the LI at Fusan to cause a lot of Resources to flow there which can then be quickly transported 2 hexes to Japan.
Oh, I don't know if stock is the same, the LI here needs 20 res & makes 2 supply points.
"As far as HI and Refineries not making supplies . . . "
Sounds like you have an opinion?
HI could be argued either way - say 14" shells are not really made by 'light industry'. The issue is that the engine only allows full unit increments, otherwise I would have gone for say 0.3 or so supply produced. There is more LI in Japan & elsewhere to compensate, so the overall supply production is roughly the same.
Refineries making supply - I am pretty strongly in the 'against' camp, especially since it cannot be scaled down to say 0.1 or so. And again, the amount of supply production on the map is not changed, just that DEI is no longer a net producer of supply. I could invest in Soerabaja to make it a major production hub though.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
I do have an opinion and you mentioned one that LI does not make 14" shells. Nor much of any other ammo, explosives, spare engines, nor spare gun tubes either. The diesel and gasoline besides other POL should come from refineries and not LI. But it is up to each producer of any mod to decide what to do. So enjoy the game however it is set up in the mod that you choose to play.
Maybe someone will develop a similar type of game with a more sophisticated economic model. One can only hope that it would be just as enjoyable as this game.
The important thing is to have fun!
Maybe someone will develop a similar type of game with a more sophisticated economic model. One can only hope that it would be just as enjoyable as this game.
The important thing is to have fun!
Seek peace but keep your gun handy.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
; Julia Child
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
; Julia ChildRe: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Dec 11, 1941
The bad - Only the second victim of a Dutch sub in the war (kind-of a miracle by itself) - LSD Shinshu Maru got hit just North of Borneo. The one ship of this type Japan has in the beginning... FLT 'only' 30, should make it to Brunei if she won't catch another one tomorrow.
The pesky Brit DD's (Scout, Thanet & DM Thracian) in the South China sea shot up another invasion TF. A couple of APD's on escort did their best and no ships were lost outright. One xAK still had 50 fires in the morning after only 2 hits so I won't give her much of a chance to make it. Then a roaming CL TF caught up with the Brits during the day. Thanet was hit a few times by DD's, which did not seem to phase them much, but they run after DM Thracian took a 14 cm shell from CL Natori. After 3 rounds of combat they should be pretty much dry (I hope) and all three ships are at least moderately damaged.
The good - Kido stuck around Pearl (shifted position a bit to make it harder for subs) and this time the weather was good.
Allied CAP was again easily suppressed by sweeps (some 20 fighters most P-36 and a few P-40B, about half was shot down with more damaged). By the time the main raid arrived, only 3 fighters were still flying.
A Pearl Harbor raid on December 11 - Kates are still using torps!
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Reisen x 33
B5N2 Kankoh x 137
Allied aircraft
P-36A Mohawk x 1
P-40B Warhawk x 1
SNJ Texan x 1
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kankoh: 6 damaged
B5N2 Kankoh: 2 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
SNJ Texan: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 1
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Helena, Bomb hits 2
AP Henderson~, Torpedo hits 1
I know I am spending too much time hovering around Pearl, but I think putting this amount of damage on USN with so few losses (less than 10 planes including ops losses) is worth it. There are still many many ships in the harbor & essentially no air cover. I will skedaddle before the 3rd USN CV can arrive from the West Coast, do not want to risk a coordinated strike from 3 fleet CV's and the Pearl LBA.
I have long range air search S of Wake & the invasion just went in & only a few light units elsewhere in SoPac so a CV raid there should not cause too much damage.
First sweep over Singers pitted 30 Zeros against 64 Buffaloes - must be most, if not the entire RAF fighter force in Malaya/DEI. After a second sweep of another 18 Zeros between half & 2/3rd of enemy planes were downed for a loss of a few own. Good weather finally allowed Brit air operations from Singers as well, with waves of enemy bombers of all types & vintages (intel shows 70+ bombers in Singapore) descending on a lone CL TF I left covering Mersing's southern flank. The nimble IJN ships were able to dodge everything that was thrown at them & have been ordered to move under LBA cover tomorrow. The heavy units covering the landing against Force Z have been allowed to raid further South between Sumatra & Borneo & caught some tankers & assorted small vessels.
It appears most of the Allied combat ships have concentrated either around Balikpapan (an USN CL 'found' one of my sub-borne mines there a couple of days ago) or Java. Mini KB (Just Ryujo & a couple of CS ships) with some CA's as escorts in the Celebes sea are being careful, PoW and Repulse would be a bit too large prey for now so they are just taking bites out of the 'Thundering Herd' heading towards the Makassar strait.
The first phase of Mersing landings have completed, the ships have withdrawn apart of few xAKL's still dropping off supplies. The Malaya railroad has been cut by a single Recon regiment that survived a counterattack by two Aussie brigades. More forces are on the way to help and others to see if Johore can also be taken. Another recon regiment reached Alor Setar where the Indians are under daily bombardments but they still have not railed away, which means they will not be doing it now. Or at least I think it is not possible to Strat move out of a contested base...
Manila Port attacks are still finding ships in the harbor. Today the air cover coordination got messed up a bit so a few fighters from Clark field were able to get in amongst the bombers, shooting down one Sally and 3 Nells. The port strikes still count as success, with DDs Peary & Pillsbury, as well as an SS (Seadragon?) confirmed sunk, along with 5 smaller vessels. The intel weenies are wondering why did the Allied commander not order these ships out. We do have an SCTF lurking just outside the Bataan peninsula, but still!
In other news, both Rabaul & Wake held against the initial attacks - Wake by the skin of their teeth survived against 3:1 odds and Rabaul defenders savaged the shock attacking Maizuru 1st SNLF unit. We still have about 2:1 advantage in raw AV and more forces on the way but air support is not (really) available since Truk in this mod starts as an airfield 2 with very little engineering and base assets. We do have a flying boat unit there keeping watch against any enterprising RAN ships and they just sunk a couple of small ships in port at Guam. I could have them hit the port in Rabaul to at least put some disruption to the base force before the next attack.
The bad - Only the second victim of a Dutch sub in the war (kind-of a miracle by itself) - LSD Shinshu Maru got hit just North of Borneo. The one ship of this type Japan has in the beginning... FLT 'only' 30, should make it to Brunei if she won't catch another one tomorrow.
The pesky Brit DD's (Scout, Thanet & DM Thracian) in the South China sea shot up another invasion TF. A couple of APD's on escort did their best and no ships were lost outright. One xAK still had 50 fires in the morning after only 2 hits so I won't give her much of a chance to make it. Then a roaming CL TF caught up with the Brits during the day. Thanet was hit a few times by DD's, which did not seem to phase them much, but they run after DM Thracian took a 14 cm shell from CL Natori. After 3 rounds of combat they should be pretty much dry (I hope) and all three ships are at least moderately damaged.
The good - Kido stuck around Pearl (shifted position a bit to make it harder for subs) and this time the weather was good.
Allied CAP was again easily suppressed by sweeps (some 20 fighters most P-36 and a few P-40B, about half was shot down with more damaged). By the time the main raid arrived, only 3 fighters were still flying.
A Pearl Harbor raid on December 11 - Kates are still using torps!
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Reisen x 33
B5N2 Kankoh x 137
Allied aircraft
P-36A Mohawk x 1
P-40B Warhawk x 1
SNJ Texan x 1
Japanese aircraft losses
B5N2 Kankoh: 6 damaged
B5N2 Kankoh: 2 destroyed by flak
Allied aircraft losses
SNJ Texan: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CL Detroit, Torpedo hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
BB Tennessee, Bomb hits 6, Torpedo hits 1
BB Maryland, Bomb hits 3, Torpedo hits 3, on fire, heavy damage
BB Pennsylvania, Bomb hits 7, on fire, heavy damage
BB California, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
CL Helena, Bomb hits 2
AP Henderson~, Torpedo hits 1
I know I am spending too much time hovering around Pearl, but I think putting this amount of damage on USN with so few losses (less than 10 planes including ops losses) is worth it. There are still many many ships in the harbor & essentially no air cover. I will skedaddle before the 3rd USN CV can arrive from the West Coast, do not want to risk a coordinated strike from 3 fleet CV's and the Pearl LBA.
I have long range air search S of Wake & the invasion just went in & only a few light units elsewhere in SoPac so a CV raid there should not cause too much damage.
First sweep over Singers pitted 30 Zeros against 64 Buffaloes - must be most, if not the entire RAF fighter force in Malaya/DEI. After a second sweep of another 18 Zeros between half & 2/3rd of enemy planes were downed for a loss of a few own. Good weather finally allowed Brit air operations from Singers as well, with waves of enemy bombers of all types & vintages (intel shows 70+ bombers in Singapore) descending on a lone CL TF I left covering Mersing's southern flank. The nimble IJN ships were able to dodge everything that was thrown at them & have been ordered to move under LBA cover tomorrow. The heavy units covering the landing against Force Z have been allowed to raid further South between Sumatra & Borneo & caught some tankers & assorted small vessels.
It appears most of the Allied combat ships have concentrated either around Balikpapan (an USN CL 'found' one of my sub-borne mines there a couple of days ago) or Java. Mini KB (Just Ryujo & a couple of CS ships) with some CA's as escorts in the Celebes sea are being careful, PoW and Repulse would be a bit too large prey for now so they are just taking bites out of the 'Thundering Herd' heading towards the Makassar strait.
The first phase of Mersing landings have completed, the ships have withdrawn apart of few xAKL's still dropping off supplies. The Malaya railroad has been cut by a single Recon regiment that survived a counterattack by two Aussie brigades. More forces are on the way to help and others to see if Johore can also be taken. Another recon regiment reached Alor Setar where the Indians are under daily bombardments but they still have not railed away, which means they will not be doing it now. Or at least I think it is not possible to Strat move out of a contested base...
Manila Port attacks are still finding ships in the harbor. Today the air cover coordination got messed up a bit so a few fighters from Clark field were able to get in amongst the bombers, shooting down one Sally and 3 Nells. The port strikes still count as success, with DDs Peary & Pillsbury, as well as an SS (Seadragon?) confirmed sunk, along with 5 smaller vessels. The intel weenies are wondering why did the Allied commander not order these ships out. We do have an SCTF lurking just outside the Bataan peninsula, but still!
In other news, both Rabaul & Wake held against the initial attacks - Wake by the skin of their teeth survived against 3:1 odds and Rabaul defenders savaged the shock attacking Maizuru 1st SNLF unit. We still have about 2:1 advantage in raw AV and more forces on the way but air support is not (really) available since Truk in this mod starts as an airfield 2 with very little engineering and base assets. We do have a flying boat unit there keeping watch against any enterprising RAN ships and they just sunk a couple of small ships in port at Guam. I could have them hit the port in Rabaul to at least put some disruption to the base force before the next attack.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
G'day Mate, I have been looking at this variant. Wondering about your Mersing landing. The Japanese on the afternoon turn for Dec 7, have a floating reserve off Singora and Poulo Condore of four infantry regiments, one recon rgt, edit... "one tank rgt", and several artillery types. What did you land on Mersing?
regards,
terry
regards,
terry
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Everything that was on a ship around Paolo Condore, Kota & Singora. Basically everything that was 'mobile' on T1. The first day of landings was on the 8th in the PM phase. I think there was a unit that was half-unloaded in Singora & left one of the Air support regiments in Kota to get air cover over Mersing ASAP.
I also put up all F-1M2's on the AV ships on a CAP to at least disrupt whatever comes around.
It is defo a risky move because the weather can easily ground your CAP, but luckily there were 2 days of storms over Singers. Usually people bitch about that because they miss the port strikes or airfield strikes, but I was happy as a clam. Not interested in losing Netties to Singers flak if I can help it.
I also put up all F-1M2's on the AV ships on a CAP to at least disrupt whatever comes around.
It is defo a risky move because the weather can easily ground your CAP, but luckily there were 2 days of storms over Singers. Usually people bitch about that because they miss the port strikes or airfield strikes, but I was happy as a clam. Not interested in losing Netties to Singers flak if I can help it.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Dec 12, 1941
My forces arrived to Hong Kong, but tomorrow thunderstorms were predicted so we pause. The first attack against Hong Kong is super important because if it goes wrong, a large portion of my AV could get disabled & them size 3 forts will be a problem. I brought a couple of Independent Combat Engie battalions (they are only AV 9 in this mod), I hope they can punch through the first line.
Malaya - The highway is cut & reinforcements arrived to help the lone Recon regiment to hold against a shock attack by a mix of whatever arrived into Kluang. I can see 2 Aussie brigades, another Indian one, some base units & arty. At least another brigade of sort is detraining in Malacca, a clear hex so they will get welcome-carpet-bombed (weather permitting).
Johore appears to be vacated & we are a couple of days off. Once it is taken, I can think about attacking the Kluang grouping, but I cannot do that yet, just in case they retreat South & eventually to Singers.
Mersing is a small base & I do not want to waste supplies so I sent a lot of my shipping E to unload in Brunei (to fix the oil), and some disbanded in port (in case Dutch subs & British bombers come calling). My LR CAP boys from Kota are getting a bit tired. Need to get an Air support Rgt to Johore; size one Airfield is not much but will be good enough.
A scary situation has developed in the Celebes sea: Force Z sortied out of Balikpapan & ended up ONE hex SE from Ryujo 's TF. Considering Ryujo only had a single CL & a couple of DD's as escort, that could have been hairy. There were a couple of CA-based TF's around that I had covering the landings in Sidate & Digos (S Mindanao) that were returning to link up with Ryujo & one of them I was able to merge today. The other TF was on the opposite side, also one hex from Force Z, but seemingly undetected.
I decided to do a Full speed run direct East, hoping that if he pursues & I will be able to get away, he will be out of or very low on fuel by the next day. As usual, it did not go as expected...
Luzon campaign is going as planned, the Southern Pincers landed in Atimonan & the Northern ones are in Tuguegarao & Vigan. Enemy subs are trying, as usual, my ASW groups are 'doing OK', kinda as expected from IJN at this period. It does look like he is concentrating his forces in Manila but I am still a ways out so he has is options open.
Wider Pacific -
Wake has fallen, after a bombardment from a CL TF & an shock attack from 2 SNLF units. They are both kinda messed up though so I cannot use them right way.
Rabaul, on the other hand has not yet fallen, but in a couple of days I should have enough forces for the next attack, barring an appearance of RAN heavy cruisers
Where is Kido?
Still hanging out by Pearl. Today we got a confirmation about a BB sinking during the attack (except Tracker & the game disagree on which one...), and again multiple BB's received between 5-10 hits from 800 kg bombs (and many 250kg ones). As long as I am able to suppress is CAP & not taking many losses of Kates, why not keep pounding him? Bottlenecks does not have Allied Respawn so anything he loses is GONE.
I know his CV's could show up somewhere else, I have as much NAV search up as I can & not sticking my nose out to far (except Rabaul). I am also keeping Kido on the move around, but not too much, being mindful of fuel.
My forces arrived to Hong Kong, but tomorrow thunderstorms were predicted so we pause. The first attack against Hong Kong is super important because if it goes wrong, a large portion of my AV could get disabled & them size 3 forts will be a problem. I brought a couple of Independent Combat Engie battalions (they are only AV 9 in this mod), I hope they can punch through the first line.
Malaya - The highway is cut & reinforcements arrived to help the lone Recon regiment to hold against a shock attack by a mix of whatever arrived into Kluang. I can see 2 Aussie brigades, another Indian one, some base units & arty. At least another brigade of sort is detraining in Malacca, a clear hex so they will get welcome-carpet-bombed (weather permitting).
Johore appears to be vacated & we are a couple of days off. Once it is taken, I can think about attacking the Kluang grouping, but I cannot do that yet, just in case they retreat South & eventually to Singers.
Mersing is a small base & I do not want to waste supplies so I sent a lot of my shipping E to unload in Brunei (to fix the oil), and some disbanded in port (in case Dutch subs & British bombers come calling). My LR CAP boys from Kota are getting a bit tired. Need to get an Air support Rgt to Johore; size one Airfield is not much but will be good enough.
A scary situation has developed in the Celebes sea: Force Z sortied out of Balikpapan & ended up ONE hex SE from Ryujo 's TF. Considering Ryujo only had a single CL & a couple of DD's as escort, that could have been hairy. There were a couple of CA-based TF's around that I had covering the landings in Sidate & Digos (S Mindanao) that were returning to link up with Ryujo & one of them I was able to merge today. The other TF was on the opposite side, also one hex from Force Z, but seemingly undetected.
I decided to do a Full speed run direct East, hoping that if he pursues & I will be able to get away, he will be out of or very low on fuel by the next day. As usual, it did not go as expected...
Luzon campaign is going as planned, the Southern Pincers landed in Atimonan & the Northern ones are in Tuguegarao & Vigan. Enemy subs are trying, as usual, my ASW groups are 'doing OK', kinda as expected from IJN at this period. It does look like he is concentrating his forces in Manila but I am still a ways out so he has is options open.
Wider Pacific -
Wake has fallen, after a bombardment from a CL TF & an shock attack from 2 SNLF units. They are both kinda messed up though so I cannot use them right way.
Rabaul, on the other hand has not yet fallen, but in a couple of days I should have enough forces for the next attack, barring an appearance of RAN heavy cruisers
Where is Kido?
Still hanging out by Pearl. Today we got a confirmation about a BB sinking during the attack (except Tracker & the game disagree on which one...), and again multiple BB's received between 5-10 hits from 800 kg bombs (and many 250kg ones). As long as I am able to suppress is CAP & not taking many losses of Kates, why not keep pounding him? Bottlenecks does not have Allied Respawn so anything he loses is GONE.
I know his CV's could show up somewhere else, I have as much NAV search up as I can & not sticking my nose out to far (except Rabaul). I am also keeping Kido on the move around, but not too much, being mindful of fuel.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Dec 13, 1941
Another Allied shock attack was beaten back in Kluang, we now have parity in raw AV & the Allied brigades are quite messed up.
Hong Kong Deliberate attack went well, 3:1 final odds & forts lowered to 2. Our units are in good shape so we go again tomorrow.
Borneo/DEI/Sulu sea
Yesterday a large concentration of shipping was discovered off Tarakan so I detached the heavy cover TF (CA's + escorts) escorting an invasion force (to Tarakan) to sprint ahead & clear the way, keeping a light cover (CL+4DD's) close. The heavies found a nice TF, sinking 8 mid-sized merchants & xAP President Madison. This 'may' have also saved their skins.
Force Z - I think my opponent thought Ryujo will run North, directly away from him & decided to go all out-general pursuit.
This allowed his intended prey to escape (cause they went East), but put Repulse, PoW, some CL's and 15 DD's directly into the path of the incoming Tarakan invasion, which was still 10 hexes away yesterday & was ordered to pause & do not enter Celebes sea. The light escorts put up a good fight, landing a few hits on both British BB's & losing the lead ship CL Natori. The DD's even got away (not unhurt, but they did). The South Borneo invasion fleet did not, however. Not a single soul from the 4 SNLF units & not a single ship made it (10k+ casualties).
The only silver lining in this disaster was that my heavy cover TF survived (out of torps & not enough ammo left though), and that Force Z is now smack in the middle of Sulu sea, likely very low on fuel & probably getting low on ammo. They are actually closer to Miri than Tarakan, so we shall see if he chooses the Netties from Saigon or Mini KB.
In other news, we landed in Balikpapan today & based on the Allied bombardment during the land combat phase we should be plenty strong to take it (I got a full regiment & a tank unit & another Naval Guard + air support). I need to close off anything coming from or going to Singers ASAP.
Kido - They were still hanging out W of Pearl, then yesterday E of the islands one of my sub pickets got attacked by a couple of DD's and a another TF was found by the search plane from a different sub. I decided to move KB East, to pass through the Hawaiian island chain, to just off the N shore of the Big island. (I actually visited that exact spot last year so figured why not!) Turns out the Allied commander evacuated many ships from Pearl & sent them East. Not sure why but he teamed up the valuable AD's & AE Pyro with many small vessels (AMc' YO's, ACM's). Kates had a field day with them all except PC Tiger. I am pretty sure she was the only one that survived & she must have dodged at least 20-30 torps... I let my opponent know that that an eventual surrender of Japan will only signed onboard of PC Tiger!
The number of ships reported in Pearl harbor has now diminished significantly, I suspect everything that had a chance to get away had done so. Maybe my subs off West Coast can still poke a few holes... or should I send Kido in pursuit? I know there were CA's & CL's, and of course a bunch of DD's & maybe some semi-lame BB's.
Another Allied shock attack was beaten back in Kluang, we now have parity in raw AV & the Allied brigades are quite messed up.
Hong Kong Deliberate attack went well, 3:1 final odds & forts lowered to 2. Our units are in good shape so we go again tomorrow.
Borneo/DEI/Sulu sea
Yesterday a large concentration of shipping was discovered off Tarakan so I detached the heavy cover TF (CA's + escorts) escorting an invasion force (to Tarakan) to sprint ahead & clear the way, keeping a light cover (CL+4DD's) close. The heavies found a nice TF, sinking 8 mid-sized merchants & xAP President Madison. This 'may' have also saved their skins.
Force Z - I think my opponent thought Ryujo will run North, directly away from him & decided to go all out-general pursuit.
This allowed his intended prey to escape (cause they went East), but put Repulse, PoW, some CL's and 15 DD's directly into the path of the incoming Tarakan invasion, which was still 10 hexes away yesterday & was ordered to pause & do not enter Celebes sea. The light escorts put up a good fight, landing a few hits on both British BB's & losing the lead ship CL Natori. The DD's even got away (not unhurt, but they did). The South Borneo invasion fleet did not, however. Not a single soul from the 4 SNLF units & not a single ship made it (10k+ casualties).
The only silver lining in this disaster was that my heavy cover TF survived (out of torps & not enough ammo left though), and that Force Z is now smack in the middle of Sulu sea, likely very low on fuel & probably getting low on ammo. They are actually closer to Miri than Tarakan, so we shall see if he chooses the Netties from Saigon or Mini KB.
In other news, we landed in Balikpapan today & based on the Allied bombardment during the land combat phase we should be plenty strong to take it (I got a full regiment & a tank unit & another Naval Guard + air support). I need to close off anything coming from or going to Singers ASAP.
Kido - They were still hanging out W of Pearl, then yesterday E of the islands one of my sub pickets got attacked by a couple of DD's and a another TF was found by the search plane from a different sub. I decided to move KB East, to pass through the Hawaiian island chain, to just off the N shore of the Big island. (I actually visited that exact spot last year so figured why not!) Turns out the Allied commander evacuated many ships from Pearl & sent them East. Not sure why but he teamed up the valuable AD's & AE Pyro with many small vessels (AMc' YO's, ACM's). Kates had a field day with them all except PC Tiger. I am pretty sure she was the only one that survived & she must have dodged at least 20-30 torps... I let my opponent know that that an eventual surrender of Japan will only signed onboard of PC Tiger!
The number of ships reported in Pearl harbor has now diminished significantly, I suspect everything that had a chance to get away had done so. Maybe my subs off West Coast can still poke a few holes... or should I send Kido in pursuit? I know there were CA's & CL's, and of course a bunch of DD's & maybe some semi-lame BB's.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Addendum to Dec 13th...
I mentioned earlier that I disbanded some ships into Mersing since they were still loaded with supply & the base itself was at full capacity.
I really do need to remember that the Allied player will SEE that move cause he is looking at the map the way I left it when I hit 'end orders'. In this case he threw all bombers from Singers at a port strike.
My CAP stopped the first raid & shot down some stringbags from the second... the rest had had a free rein. I lost an AV & a couple of xAKs outright, with about 10 more ships damaged to various levels. They are not burning but limping along very slowly & there is a swarm of Dutch subs around.
I mentioned earlier that I disbanded some ships into Mersing since they were still loaded with supply & the base itself was at full capacity.
I really do need to remember that the Allied player will SEE that move cause he is looking at the map the way I left it when I hit 'end orders'. In this case he threw all bombers from Singers at a port strike.
My CAP stopped the first raid & shot down some stringbags from the second... the rest had had a free rein. I lost an AV & a couple of xAKs outright, with about 10 more ships damaged to various levels. They are not burning but limping along very slowly & there is a swarm of Dutch subs around.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Bad news arrived today. Looks like my opponent is not going to be able to commit the time needed to play a long term PBEM.
He provided me with his password in the same email, otherwise I would have asked him not to.
I am not about to open his save, I want to put out a call if anyone would be interested in picking this up. We are a week in so it should not be too hard to reorganize the Allied war effort to your liking. As a bonus, IJN just lost the Southern Borneo invasion force with 10k troops drowned. That alone makes me want to reset, but fair is fair!
I would ask that anyone interested considers their ability to commit to around 5 or so turns a week. Even in that tempo we are potentially talking years of real time. Not knowing every minutia of the game is not a must (who does, anyway?), but you must dig logistics and long term planning. Bottlenecks plays very differently from Stock. Just saying.
Please read the AAR & maybe the Opponents Wanted (https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/vie ... 7&t=395731), then send a PM if interested & let me know if you want to pick up or restart.
He provided me with his password in the same email, otherwise I would have asked him not to.
I am not about to open his save, I want to put out a call if anyone would be interested in picking this up. We are a week in so it should not be too hard to reorganize the Allied war effort to your liking. As a bonus, IJN just lost the Southern Borneo invasion force with 10k troops drowned. That alone makes me want to reset, but fair is fair!I would ask that anyone interested considers their ability to commit to around 5 or so turns a week. Even in that tempo we are potentially talking years of real time. Not knowing every minutia of the game is not a must (who does, anyway?), but you must dig logistics and long term planning. Bottlenecks plays very differently from Stock. Just saying
.Please read the AAR & maybe the Opponents Wanted (https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/vie ... 7&t=395731), then send a PM if interested & let me know if you want to pick up or restart.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
No takers so far.
Just wanted to reiterate, looking for an Allied opponent that is very familiar with the game concepts, even if not necessarily super experienced in PBEM. The Allies have time to learn.
We can pick this game up or start over, house rules are up for discussion as well.
Just wanted to reiterate, looking for an Allied opponent that is very familiar with the game concepts, even if not necessarily super experienced in PBEM. The Allies have time to learn.
We can pick this game up or start over, house rules are up for discussion as well.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
I PM'd you last night... Just sent another PM, regards terry
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Weird, I am not seeing them...
I will try to PM you...
I tried to send through the 'bubble' that shows up by a forum message, the msg is sitting stuck on the outbox.
I wonder if yours there as well.
Will try the actual PM function.
I will try to PM you...
I tried to send through the 'bubble' that shows up by a forum message, the msg is sitting stuck on the outbox.
I wonder if yours there as well.
Will try the actual PM function.
Re: Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
Mine are not going out, I have 2 addressed to you sitting in my outbox.Mark VII wrote: Thu Jun 29, 2023 3:16 pm I PM'd you last night... Just sent another PM, regards terry
How about this: I put my personal email addy into my profile. If you grab it from there, pls send me an email. Once we get the convo going, I will delete it.
If anyone else reached out, I apologize, not sure why PM are messed up.
Re: Game Over Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
This game is done, unfortunately.
A new opponent reached out & we will be restarting.
Quick show of hands, is there interest in another AAR for Bottlenecks?
Things that people want or do not want to see discussed?
Thanks for reading!
A new opponent reached out & we will be restarting.
Quick show of hands, is there interest in another AAR for Bottlenecks?
Things that people want or do not want to see discussed?
Thanks for reading!
Re: Game Over Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
I would be interested in following along. Always curious about tactics and thoughts as a game progresses. I need to go back and reread about Bottlenecks again..JanSako wrote: Fri Jun 30, 2023 7:29 pm This game is done, unfortunately.
A new opponent reached out & we will be restarting.
Quick show of hands, is there interest in another AAR for Bottlenecks?
Things that people want or do not want to see discussed?
Thanks for reading!
Re: Game Over Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
At least look at the bright side, if you have saved your first turn you won't have to redo it all just make any adjustments that you want.JanSako wrote: Fri Jun 30, 2023 7:29 pm This game is done, unfortunately.
A new opponent reached out & we will be restarting.
Quick show of hands, is there interest in another AAR for Bottlenecks?
Things that people want or do not want to see discussed?
Thanks for reading!
Yes, I do read your AAR.
Seek peace but keep your gun handy.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
; Julia Child
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
“Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).”
; Julia ChildRe: Game Over Jan (J) vs Ric (A) - A Bottlenecks+ Game on 11.27
I would definitely be reading any future AARs of Bottlenecks ! I love the concept and am currently playing Big B's mod vs AI (not the same but some overlapping concepts)JanSako wrote: Fri Jun 30, 2023 7:29 pm This game is done, unfortunately.
A new opponent reached out & we will be restarting.
Quick show of hands, is there interest in another AAR for Bottlenecks?
Things that people want or do not want to see discussed?
Thanks for reading!