WitP mod v903 Ngineer(Japan) vs. Feinder(Allies)

[Feinder]

October 31st, 1943

I got the turn back. Solomons follow-up...

Ngineer never ceases to surprise me. He did NOT attack the 3x BB/BC exposed off Buin. Rather, he gave max effort to attack one of my CVs (Wasp). She "almost" made it thru his counter-strike. As expected, lots of CAP sorties by my CVs, and he had even driven her to retreat towards the LBA from Cooktown, taking some intercepts from the LBA there as well. In the end, he had to use his remaining sub off Port Moresby (prev turn was driven off, but not ported), to finish here off. It was a little painful to watch her "almost" make it. But "almost" says it all. He also pounded the Royal Navy DD that was on the north blockade of his BC at Milne Bay. He still had to shoot his way out, but made it to the nearby port of Arawe, and under the CAP protection of New Britain and his CVs.

I went ahead and sent a Canadian DD to dispatch his sub.

So added to the final butcher's bill for this battle, add (1x CV, 1x DD) for Allies; and (1x SS) for Japan.

The effect of his attacks on my CV and triggering my Intercepts however, has largely depleted my Carrier Air Groups (most are at 4 to 7 SP). Given that I have Range and ASW upgrade pending, I'll be calling this one Decisive Win for myself, and cashing out my chips (returning to Oz for repairs and refits).

He's also pulled out of several of the islands, including the base a Buna (across from Port Moresby). I moved up Inf-Div to capture it. I'll have to re-watch the replay to see which islands he has evac'd. I've got the two Inf-Corps loaded onto AVLs already. I'm of a mind to capture Buin-Choiseul-Rekata, which would give me bases for LBA, thus CAP and eyes to Truk and the Marshalls. But we'll see, I haven't decided yet.

[Feinder]

October 31st, 1943

India

He spotted my subs, camping off Trivandrum, and thus evacuated the remnants of his second Inf-Corps. Subsequently followed by several cat-n-mouse attacks with his DDs and CV/LBA aviation hunting my subs. Some damage to both subs and DDs, nothing decisive. I had gotten a spotting report of a CL-Raider along the Oz-India convoy, sent a sub to look for it, but found nothing.

Kiwi troops then re-occupied Trivandrum, and have quickly moved out, so as to not give his bombardment group(s) something to shoot at. Oz-HQ has started moving towards The Incursion.

Meanwhile, in The Incursion, he evac'd an Inf-Corps that had been at Vizagapatan, and replaced it with an Inf-Div. I moved up a Indian and Canadian Inf-Corps, and drove him out of Vizagapatan; two cities liberated! I've also launched a general offensive into/at The Incursion. I expect he'll evac what he can. His last port is Cuttack, but I don't really have Bombers to spare to close the port, so he'll likely get most of it out. On the plus side, he's having trouble filling out replacements, so even mauling his units on the way out, serve a purpose.

[Feinder]

October 31st, 1943

China

In China, he hit again at Chansha, and several attacks along the Nat-Chi / Com-Chit border. My Chinese Inf-Corps that captured the mine, ended up surrendering (ugh), and altho I can't seem to have caught it in the replay (watched it twice), he killed another Chinese Inf-Div (must have been near the joinder, best I can tell).

My own counter-attack at Kweisui smashed what was left of his Inf-Corps, and recaptured the city. I also continued to press in the Center, north of Wuhan. I think I'm going to shift what I can to the far north, and try again to push him back/off those same Mines. They're they closest MPP target that is attainable. It'll like draw more of his LBA which will be a problem. But LBA vs. the Chinese is LBA that is NOT defending the rest of the Pacific.

And by the way, these are the large-size maps, that are formatted to the browser window. If they prove a little small to you, you can right-click and "open image a new tab" to see better details (in case you didn't know that).

[Feinder]

October 31st, 1943

Solomons, National Morale, and Strategic Map

I'm glumping all three together, because there's more of a "general report" for Solomons.

As previously posted, despite a determined CAP defense and deft ship-handling, the USS Wasp fell victim to many attacks by Japanese Army and Naval aviation, with the coups de grace delivered by a submarine still lurking off Port Moresby. The submarine was hunted down and confirmed destroyed. Furthermore, supported by multiple attacks by LBA, the Japanese Fast Battleship sheltering at Milne Bay managed to fight her way past a flotilla of Royal Navy Destroyers, and made port further north in New Britain.

With that, and my air-groups largely expended, I have elected to port almost my entire navy. The CVs will repair their air-groups, and take Range(3). The surface ships taking ASW(2). I think I made use of every port in the South Pacific to Oz (that was not in range of his LBA). Next turn, I'll spending a gob-smack of MPPs on upgrades.

Despite a lot of moving around in Coral Sea, the only island I noted that he evacuated, was to pull an Inf-Div off Rekata. I was also debating about moving up onto some of the Solomons bases, but I decided to stay on track and captured two bases that needed capturing anyway, to support my drive towards Philippines. Also moved up onto the newly evac'd base at Buna. The Solomons have served their purpose of attritting his fleet. If I can pin down some of his LBA, if thinks I'm going to fight for Rabaul to Truk, so be it. It gives me a little more time/opportunity to carve into the Dutch East Indies towards the Philippines.

National Morale - Well. I'm disappointed that for all of what would seem to be a major victory for last turn, the net-gain was only +23 points for the US. Yes, I lost about 800 for a fully upgraded CV, and he did quite a few step-losses to my CAGs. But a net of +23 just kinda feels like she said, "I was kinda hoping for something a little bigger..."

You can see the Japanese total down by over 5000 points, and NM finally under 100%. I'll take it. No need to flog the NM horse more.

StratMap - I really just posted this for politness. The LBA dispositions haven't changes, and basically my fleet is scattered to every little nook-n-cranny base in the Pacific to take upgrades next turn. There's also a lot of ground units forming up on the west coast, which will be employed future offensives.

[Feinder]

October 31st, 1943

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - Nothing new spent on Research. I actually might start chitting the Extra Build techs soon.

Production - This also shows builds from last turn. You can see that I'm pulling in ground units, now needed for potential offensive (and will hopefully less strongly opposed, given the mauling that his fleet has taken).

Losses - CV and DD lost from his counter-attack in Solomons. He also destroyed a Chinese Inf-Div and Inf-Corps. Japan's losses include an Inf-Corps and the Sub off Port Moresby.

Economy - Allied (+2), Japan (-1). Not really significant. But the little things like to get noticed occasionally also.

[Elessar2]

Glad to see the USN finally dish it out. Kido Butai remains almost wholly untouched tho, but the lack of screening forces going forward will hamper him a bit I'd say. Since it will be awhile before your own carriers can get any more upgrades, it will be interesting to see who will win the next carrier vs, carrier clash per se.

[Feinder]

November 18th, 1943

India

He continues to evacuate The Incursion. I was able to destroy two Inf-Divs on his left flank, and he's down to just 1x Inf-Corps and 1x Cav-Div, which he'll evacuate in the coming turn.

At this point, I'll have "too much" stuff in India, so I'll be shifting some assets to be available for offensives elsewhere. Essentially, I'd like to leave the Indians to defend India, and pull the US/UK/Canadian/Oz/Kiwi troops for other offensives. We'll start getting the loaded onto transports, as soon as I can get things re-organized.

[Feinder]

November 18th, 1943

China

Well, he counter-attacked at Kweisui, and killed by Inf-Div that had re-occupied the town. Unfortunate. I actually think in the previous turn, he might have just forgotten about having that wounded Inf-Corps in the town, which I subsequently destroyed. Either way, I suppose I traded a Chinese Inf-Div for an IJA Inf-Corps. Glass is half-full, right? I've pulled back to behind that river that runs the length of Communist China.

And some more pushing-and-shoving in the center and near Changsha.

[Feinder]

November 18th, 1943

National Morale and Strategic Map

I didn't post anything in the Solomons, because nothing much happened. He rans a few missions near/over Port Moresby, which were intercepted by my fighters from Oz. Basically, I need Port Moresby to rebuild, and then I'll pull out my USMC-Divs and HQ; to be replaced by New Guinea troops to hold so that the Marines can be used elsewhere.

Other than that, almost the entire US Navy spent the turn in port upgrading/repairing (mostly upgrading). It cost about 1000mpps to take my CVs to Range(3) and everybody else to ASW(2). I do think the ASW is going to be important though. With most of his surface fleet gone, Subs have shown be quite valuable and are (relatively) quick builds. I don't know if he has the MPPs to build any, but if he DOES have MPPs to build ships, I'd focus on Subs. Frankly, I'd focus on LBA first, then Subs. But he has rarely done what I think he'll do, so the preceding conjecture is largely irrelevant.

Anyway, National Morale. China lost over 600pts, and it only lost the Inf-Div. So I'll keep an eye on that. Could be there's a "damage-over-time" objective vs. Chinese NM, that I'll need to prioritize (same reason I'm prioritizing Philippines for USA).

And Strat Map. You can see how spread out my fleet is, taking refits. I've also cataloged my ground assets, because I want to take advantage of the momentum of his retreat. No doubt he's re-organizing his own forces, including the 4(+) Inf-Corps that he pulled out of The Incursion.

I'll also need to go back and watch some replays for the Intel Reports. Static defenses tend to be exactly that, "static". I know he's got a Inf-Corps in Manilla, and another in Batavia. But I need to go back and plot out the positions of known ground formations, so that I can hopefully hit some soft-spots.

[Feinder]

November 18th, 1943

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - Nothing new spent on Research. 1000 MPPs into refits.

Production - Nothing new built. Refits.

Losses - 1x Chinese Inf-Div lost, vs. 2x IJA Inf-Divs destroyed in The Incursion.

Economy - Largely unchanged, but I see that his total intake has a eroded by 5 points since September. Hey, I'll take it.

[Elessar2]

Have you hit up against any build limits in ground units and planes yet? [We discussed naval builds a couple of months ago] As the designer I am disappointed (from a design perspective understand) that you haven't put a single chit into any of the mobilization techs, so guess I'll have to greatly dial down the base build limits for the next version. Based on your future build screen (where I am yes a bit shocked at how empty it is) looks like you simply have decided to not go with a massive buildup (the historical one) and simply flood him with units everywhere, instead taking a pragmatic approach, carefully husbanding what units you do have and prudently optimizing your targets.

[Feinder]

December 6th, 1943

India

He completed his evacuation of The Incursion. One Cav-Div left as rear-guard, fought the last with a final charge worthy of Tennyson's Light Brigade, except none rode out.

With his expulsion from India, I'm re-aligning the forces there. The Indians will of course remain. Once I get them redeployed, the plan will be to advance on the oil near Mandalay.

For now, the British and Canadians held in Reserve.

Oz/Kiwi troops will head back to Northern Oz to support the drive into the Dutch East Indies.

He's kept a Maritime Bomber Squadron at Ceylon. So swept with my Fighters to shoot it up somewhat. He scrambled CAP from his CVL, but only from the CVL. Implication that he's shifted his 2x CVs and 2x CVLs (and probably any larger surface units), to reinforce the rest of his fleet. That'll leave 1x CVL and I'm going to call 4x DDs in theater to hunt my subs.

I did park a Mari-Bmbr unit at Christmas Island (off Java) to monitor traffic around there. It's risky, because it completely isolated, and could probably be thoroughly pasted by a sound bombardment. Anyway, the plan is actually see if I can get my 4x subs into the shipping lanes of the DEI, and my Mari-Bmbrs can confirm if the entry point(s) are clear or not.

[Feinder]

December 6th, 1943

China

Nothing exciting in China. He traded a few artillery shells near Wuhan. He seems content to sit on his lines for now. I've pulled back myself, because China will Inf-Weapons(2) soon, and I'll need to upgrade my units. It'll be interesting to see if/how effective the InfWeap(2) is.

He's said that he's not collecting any MPPs from China, which would indeed suck, and make the whole adventure somewhat pointless. That being case, would a "solve" be to extend the borders of Nanning to include that town on coast East of it. Then a convoy route to Japan. Would the Chinese MPPs flow into Nanning, and then thru route? Or maybe add a route at Shanghai or something?

Frankly, I expect he's stripping everything that he DOESN'T need, and will now be concentrating on defending the National Morale hexes.

[Feinder]

December 6th, 1943

Timor Sea

Refitting of Navy continues. Build up along North Oz coast. It's a challenge, because the rail from Oz-East doesn't actually connect to the Northern Cities. So everybody comes first by conventional transport into North Oz, a turn off-loaded to recoup Readiness/Morale, and then to be loaded on AVLs.

Expected Japanese spotting line plotted, presuming Range(3).

Basically, we land where we can. Rebuild the port. Evac the assault unit(s) to Oz. Replace with Garrison or some other useful unit. We push our way towards Java and the Philippines. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Feinder]

December 6th, 1943

Coral Sea

He's trying to keep the port closed at Port Moresby. I've got two squadrons in N-Oz to run CAP, it's "somewhat effective".
Keeping PM port closed, makes sense, as it locks down my USMC-Divs there. If I try to evac them via AV/AVL, he'd have a field day with his existing LBA and CV strength. While it makes it into the category of "irksome" to keep 3x USMC-Divs (and 1x Inf-Div) tied down in New Guinea, it's not "bothersome". I've got enough assault forces otherwise to keep things moving. And if it keeps him focused on New Guinea for another turn or three, that's a few more jumps deeper into the Dutch East Indies that I can make.

At this point, he's going to be consolidating his fleet. Probably most of it at/near Truk. That would let him slide W into Dutch East Indies, E into Marshalls, or S into Solomons as needed.

[Feinder]

December 6th, 1943

National Morale and Strategic Map

National Morale is what it is.

Strategic Map. There's a lot on here. Basically, my goal(s) in 1944 will be Manila (primary), and Batavia (secondary), and Singapore (tertiary). All three a bit National Morale hits, over time.

Manilla is -50/turn starting 1944 to USA. At 2-turn intervals as the game is played (You go, I go), it's actually -100 each time my turn comes around.

Batavia, -15/turn each to USA and UK. -20/turn to India. Doubled for You-go, I-go.

Singapore, -15/turn each to USA and India. -20/turn to UK. Double for You-go, I-go.

Net effect:
USA = -130 each dbl-turn.
UK = -70 each dbl-turn.
India = -70 each dbl-turn.

Guam is the other "damage over time" National Morale hex that I could identify (-30 every dbl-turn); but it's too far inside his perimeter for me to even consider it as a possible objective yet.

* Guadalcanal and Port Moresby were also DoT objective (vs. USA and Oz), but have been re-captured.

And thus, NM (hits) drive strategy. With no way of actually re-gaining National Morale, it's imperative to stop the unnecessary bleeding. If I can recapture the DoT objectives, it allows me a little more self-determination in my fate.

[Feinder]

December 6th, 1943

Admin Stuff

Research, Production, Losses, and Economy

Research - Nothing new spent on Research. Refits and replacements are expensive. Getting close to InfWeap(2) for China.

Production - Bought re-build of Indian Inf-Corps, and a Strat-Bmbr for USA.

Losses - One IJA Cav-Div. I'll take it.

Economy - I think every once and while the calculator farts. I dunno. A weird jump, that evens out next turn. Nothing significant on the Economy to report.

[Feinder]

December 24th, 1943

India

Fairly quiet. I've got two USN subs pulled back to Indian ports for repairs. Two others that I'd like slip into shipping lanes. I'm think of NOT setting them to Hunt, until I can get all four of them. It seems that he can probably hunt down and drive off two, much easier than four. So maybe I'll get my first two into DEI as Silent. Maybe catch a ship, but otherwise, I'll wait until I get all 4 into DEI before going into convoy mode.

I took replacements for my RAF/RCAF squadrons. Also moved in the Oz Mari-Bmbr. With it's short legs (comparatively), it's not as useful in Timor Sea or Solomons. But you can see that it's got legs long enough to spot his CVL and shipping near Ceylon.

[Feinder]

December 24th, 1943

China

LBA strikes on my Comm-Chi HQ. High value (MPP) target. Blah, blah, blah. I'm rebuilding my ground formations, and waiting on InfWeap(2).

[Feinder]

December 24th, 1943

Timor Sea

Build up along N-Oz continues. Catured another base on south coast of New Guinea. Have an Oz Inf-Div loaded on AVL, to capture another base next turn. Just keep, keepin' on.