Spanking Lowpe (NJP72 vs Lowpe (A))

[CaptBeefheart]

Interesting stuff. Keep up the good work!

Assuming the "Sunk By" column is accurate, the New Mexico's 14-inch round must have started a fire on the Yamato which never went out.

As a good JFB, I'm sure you have a good grasp of when his ground reinforcements start rolling in, such as the mixed brigades. When do you expect to see a wave of new troops in defense?

Cheers,
CB

[Lowpe]

October 1943

Folding wing Corsairs arrive as does the excellent Australian Spitfires VIII!

Our first squadron of P51As arrive at Chittagong....I think I will assign them to support or bombers in an escort role as they have decent range. Any thoughts on their usage going forward...as a JFB they never seemed to perform well as a sweeper.

[Lowpe]

Interesting stuff. Keep up the good work!


As a good JFB, I'm sure you have a good grasp of when his ground reinforcements start rolling in, such as the mixed brigades. When do you expect to see a wave of new troops in defense?

Cheers,
CB

It is starting now...but I think really starts to pickup up steam in early 44. AA big gun units and upgrades start around April 44 plus a larger fighter upgrade program.

[Lowpe]

Oct 2, 1943

Big air battles over Pakhoi....more on that later.

Some SBDs catch some nice ships...the last of the thundering herd from Namlea...

Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Makassar at 65,106

Weather in hex: Moderate rain

Raid detected at 64 NM, estimated altitude 19,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 23 minutes

Allied aircraft
F6F-3 Hellcat x 11
SBD-5 Dauntless x 21

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
AK Kyushu Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires
LSD Akitsu Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAP Manzyu Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire

Aircraft Attacking:
10 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 2000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
7 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 4000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb
4 x SBD-5 Dauntless releasing from 3000' *
Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb

Heavy smoke from fires obscuring AK Kyushu Maru

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[Lowpe]

Boomerangs continue to do well:

Morning Air attack on Ambon , at 76,109

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 48 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 17 minutes

Allied aircraft
Boomerang C-12 x 22

Allied aircraft losses
Boomerang C-12: 1 damaged

Japanese Ships
xAK Nippo Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire, heavy damage
xAKL Raizan Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage

Airbase hits 1
Airbase supply hits 1
Runway hits 2
Port hits 2

Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Boomerang C-12 bombing from 7000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x Boomerang C-12 bombing from 7000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

[Lowpe]

Followed by some beasts:

Morning Air attack on Ambon , at 76,109

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 60 NM, estimated altitude 5,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 20 minutes

Allied aircraft
B-24D1 Liberator x 5

No Allied losses

Japanese Ships
xAKL Hidaka Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAK Nippo Maru, Bomb hits 2, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Gyokurei Maru, Bomb hits 5, and is sunk
xAKL Anbo Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage

Port hits 3

Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-24D1 Liberator bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Massive explosion on xAKL Gyokurei Maru
Massive explosion on xAKL Gyokurei Maru

[varsovie]

Hi,

Long time lurker here, I have no heart to have to wait many years before knowing how an AAR ends (and sometime they do before the game is finished ), so I mostly read finished AAR and therefore can't participate. But I made an exception for this AAR and do not regret it, has been both informative and fun. Well written except typos, but I call it flavor. I will try to keep operational secrecy since I also read your opponent's AAR.

First, I like NJP's tactic to bypass Singapore, drain it from supply by training bomber crews on it and they crush it once another front is finished. He kinda did the same in the Philipines. Still I think it was counterbalanced by being bogged down in Java while he could have dug in couple divs and redeploy the rest. And he went for India, not all-in, but still significant push (even Kb to get all islands) without Singapore as hub/repair facility.

It could have worked if you ran away, but you did get attrition with your DDs and manage to hit his overextended army like at Chittacong. All that combined to save Ledo, and it allowed you to continue a very agressive airlift into China. Lo and behold, today China still holds and land supply is about to reopen. Same thing in eastern Aus, you correctly called the fact that you had enough to stop him cold, or at least retreat in good order if you get the bloody nose. Shows how important it is to speedily dispatch the US troops.

Your defence of China was good, I would have liked a couple more Cap traps, but the use of commonwealth tanks and guns in specific chokepoints along with an intense maneuvering war behind his lines did, if not slow down much, made it bloody for the IJA tankman. I applaud your allocation of resources in that theater, always hard with non-existent recon, and will try out a bit more reserve no pursuit in China and besieged places, seems to really help lower the fatigue/disruption level and allows to keep at least one functional unit to surprise an hasty opponent.

I read about the Indian units getting all/more of the supply because its unit ID are lower than Chinese ones, and few more quirks of the ID systems notably in Squadron/Sentai efficiency, I wonder why the devs didn't randomize the play order, could be simple to implement. Rigth now it seems to me "gamey" in the sense that a data only useful for the game engine to works (ID) has a direct impact on gameplay and that a player with knowledge of that fact and of unit IDs (that are not availlable in-game I think) can devise strategies around that fact, like putting the best pilots/planes in the units that figth first.

I think at sea you got a bit luckier than NJP, I mean what are the odds of US torpedos that won't explode on anything but major warship's magazine. But he did an unfathomable mistake by simply not cleaning up dot bases. Even with his strategy of taking everything, I can't imagine he couldn't spare a Tk or floatplane and a fragment of anything. And that he didn't fix it even after he realised you were running raiders in his backyard since that would have been cheaper and more effective than extra escorts. And he still did not fix it when you went nearly unopposed island-hopping.

I wonder how he will fare now that you approach the home islands and that Japan is now cut from its conquests.

Boomerangs continue to do well:
...
Aircraft Attacking:
12 x Boomerang C-12 bombing from 7000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb
10 x Boomerang C-12 bombing from 7000 feet
Port Attack: 2 x 500 lb GP Bomb

Maybe TOO well. From what I gleaned the Boomerang could only carry one 500 or less bomb in lieu of the ventral ext. tank, and 4 small 20 pounds (smoke) bombs under the wings. So where did your virtual pilots put that extra bomb? Or maybe it is the first bomb coming back to be thrown again?

If I may, I would like it if you edited the 1st post of this AAR to add a link to the 1st post of the spanker so it is easier to find for those like me who likes both perspective.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 02&start=1
Also could someone post the link to that AAR I heard about where some drunken Captain unloaded his troops rigth in Siberia? Sounds as entertaining as Greyjoy loosing all the map just to land in Japan. After all I do need something else to read while this AAR continues.

[Lowpe]

Hi,

If I may, I would like it if you edited the 1st post of this AAR to add a link to the 1st post of the spanker so it is easier to find for those like me who likes both perspective.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 02&start=1
Also could someone post the link to that AAR I heard about where some drunken Captain unloaded his troops rigth in Siberia? Sounds as entertaining as Greyjoy loosing all the map just to land in Japan. After all I do need something else to read while this AAR continues.

What do you mean the first post of the spanker?

Never heard of that Siberian game...just do a game search by poster making sure to set the date range to all. Is it still possible to sort the AARs by views or posts with all dates included? You will get some good reading doing that.

[Lowpe]

As a JFB, I hate turns like this where you have to rebuild and reorganize your air squadrons:

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[BBfanboy]

Hi,

If I may, I would like it if you edited the 1st post of this AAR to add a link to the 1st post of the spanker so it is easier to find for those like me who likes both perspective.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 02&start=1
Also could someone post the link to that AAR I heard about where some drunken Captain unloaded his troops rigth in Siberia? Sounds as entertaining as Greyjoy loosing all the map just to land in Japan. After all I do need something else to read while this AAR continues.

What do you mean the first post of the spanker?

Never heard of that Siberian game...just do a game search by poster making sure to set the date range to all. Is it still possible to sort the AARs by views or posts with all dates included? You will get some good reading doing that.

If you are getting spanked (as the title of your AAR suggests), your opponent would be the spanker.
I forget who the IJ player was but one player was trying to sneak his amphib force along the shore of Russia but left it with unload orders. It unloaded a small unit and triggered entry of the Russians into the game. RJ refers to this as the delivery of 'rotten sushi to Stalin'.

About the air battle over Pakhoi - you got the better of Japan 3:1, but loss of 16 T-Bolts has to hurt!

[Lowpe]

Stalin, Prickly bastard....no sense of of humor whatsoever.

[RangerJoe]

Stalin, Prickly bastard....no sense of of humor whatsoever.

+1!

[Lowpe]

Oct 5, 1943

Pushing forward....closing in on Singers, attacking Cam Ranh Bay, moving on Nanning, Bangkok and Ayuthia will fall pretty easily I think. Mostly the turn is moving troops and supplies forward. I have deep recon on some Japanese bases, looking for targets four our long legged British heavy bombers.

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[Lowpe]

Some potential targets from Pakhoi... Wenchow's factories are in ruins from the early war still.

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[CaptBeefheart]

Good old Changsha. I spent about 75 minutes at that airport once. I used Expedia to get a great deal to Bangkok, but it meant flying China Southern through Changsha.

When I checked in at the airport in Korea, the gal said, "Oh, by the way, you'll have to deplane at Changsha, pull your bags, go through Customs and Immigration, recheck the bags, and get on your flight to BKK."

Me: "No kidding? All that in a 1-hour layover? Sure thing."

Anyway, it was news to me as usually the bags move on to the next destination without the passenger's involvement, including on the return journey through Guangzhou (great airport lounge there, by the way). Naturally, when we landed I was doing the O.J. Simpson routine but to no avail as our baggage came off practically last on the carousel, and there was a long line of Chinese gals with overflowing luggage carts piled with duty-free goods ahead of us. We're inching through the single manned line in the hot terminal as the layover minutes disappeared one by one. Finally, we get through that and a surly guy at Immigration, and it was O.J. Simpson time again as the actual departure time was in two minutes. Luckily, the airport, even though it served Changsha, which Wiki tells me has a metro population of over 10 million, had the feel of a medium regional U.S. airport, so it was uncrowded. We pulled up to the gate five minutes late and they put us on a bus, on which waited about another five minutes for one last gal who had been held up at Immigration. I had a feeling the airline was used to departing 15-20 minutes late on that segment.

By the way, this was 2015, and on three of the four China Southern flight segments I detected cigarette smoke coming from lavs. I hadn't smelled than on a flight in years.

Anyway, Lowpe, good luck with your China adventures. I love the Ningpo area as a B-24 and/or B-29 base of ops.

Cheers,
CB

[Lowpe]

Nice story Captain!

My daughter might be heading to a conference in South Korea in 2024! I am jealous.

[Lowpe]

Oct 7, 1943

Don't do this, AFBs! Porpoise hit a mine heading back to be withdrawn, rather than sinking her somehow, I saved her and paid the political price.

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[JanSako]

Yeah, but the good feeling of saving the vessel & the crew... who cares about PP's...

[Lowpe]

Oct 8, 1943

Been hunting this AMC for a bit now....should at least be easier now. Lost 10 more planes than Japan today...30 to 20. Will rectify.

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[Lowpe]

Oct 9, 1943

This is a pretty large troop transport...2000+ troop capacity. She sank.

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