I was not going to do an AAR for this game until things had really gotten going, but I find I cannot stop myself
This is Babeslite Scen 1 Dec 7 start, stock map with stacking limits, ** 3 day turns **
PDU On
No Unit Withdrawals On
Of course I am playing the evil empire, who ought to stand no chance given it's Scen 1. However I have a cunning plan (to be revealed later).
There are ** No House Rules **. The above-mentioned plan requires this, but of course it's also going to give the Allies a lot of scope to be naughty too.
Why 3-day turns? Well it will speed things up considerably, and hopefully the game will go the distance. It should also make for more "operational/strategic" thinking than the tactical. We will see ...
Last edited by Captain Cruft on Tue Jul 30, 2024 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As a player of two days, I find it much better and there is much more chance of the game going down - I am interested as to how 3 days may play out. there is way too much micromanagement in one day turns as well IMO.
One thing I want to get away from is the tactical optimisation which most players are obsessed with. The game lasts 4-5 years, worrying about whether your planes did slightly better flying at X rather than Y feet, or whether they should have really attacked that single xAKL mysteriously floating in the battle zone, should not be relevant.
IJN CL+DDs wipe out all merchant shipping trying to escape from Hong Kong.
However, the British and American navies have the cheek to oppose our landings at Tarawa and Miri.
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Night Time Surface Combat, near Tarawa at 136,128, Range 8,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
PB Santos Maru, Shell hits 12, and is sunk
xAKL Toyotsu Maru, Shell hits 4, and is sunk
xAK Aratama Maru, Shell hits 21, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Katsura Maru, Shell hits 6, and is sunk
xAKL Kaito Maru
xAKL Tenposan Maru, Shell hits 9, and is sunk
Allied Ships
CA Louisville
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Day Time Surface Combat, near Miri at 64,87, Range 9,000 Yards
Japanese Ships
APD Aoi, Shell hits 8, Torpedo hits 1, and is sunk
TB Kasasagi, Shell hits 5, heavy fires, heavy damage
AMc Wa 19
xAK Hokko Maru, Shell hits 1, on fire
xAK Zinzan Maru
xAK Kinkasan Maru, Shell hits 15, and is sunk
xAK Giyu Maru, Shell hits 1
xAKL Kembu Maru, Shell hits 10, and is sunk
xAKL Kiko Maru, Shell hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
xAKL Anbo Maru
Allied Ships
DD Scout, Shell hits 1
DD Thanet
==> These victims were both the crap-tastic TFs which are part of the historical first turn. I will be attaching more competent surface actors in future Amphib TFs.
We also encountered some effective bombing from American seaplanes out of Manila.
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Morning Air attack on TF, near Vigan at 80,73
Weather in hex: Overcast
Raid spotted at 11 NM, estimated altitude 2,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 5 minutes
Allied aircraft
SOC-1 Seagull x 7
Allied aircraft losses
SOC-1 Seagull: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAK Brisbane Maru, Bomb hits 2, on fire
xAK Oigawa Maru, Bomb hits 3, heavy fires, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x SOC-1 Seagull bombing from 1000 feet
Naval Attack: 2 x 250 lb SAP Bomb
==> Another nice move by my opponent. He is showing early signs of well considered risk-adjusted aggression.
Other than these actions much as you would expect. We shot down a nice tranche of Buffaloes over Singapore, and Kota Bharu has fallen.
Last edited by Captain Cruft on Sun Aug 04, 2024 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Chinese seem to mostly be withdrawing from their starting positions, but it looks like they might be trying some silly buggers around Hankow. Changsha has been emptied of aircraft.
china1.png (507.45 KiB) Viewed 1207 times
Last edited by Captain Cruft on Sun Aug 04, 2024 1:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The evil Dutch sub force has mined Samah, as discovered by one unfortunate destroyer. A minesweeper is on its way from Cam Ranh Bay to do some clearance.
Otherwise, Guam, Brunei and Miri are now ours, and we have landed unopposed at Davao and Manus.
Zeros sweep Manila, and encounter P-40s. We despatch 22 for a loss of 12 planes and 4 pilots. We go again next turn, with the other group at Takao.
These attacks happened on all 3 days. The under-gunned Oscars destroyed a single B-17 for the loss of 32 Oil points. There is no flak at the base yet.
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Morning Air attack on Miri , at 64,87
Weather in hex: Moderate rain
Raid spotted at 17 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 4 minutes
Japanese aircraft
Ki-43-Ib Oscar x 4
Allied aircraft
B-17D Fortress x 10
No Japanese losses
Allied aircraft losses
B-17D Fortress: 3 damaged
Oil hits 4
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-17D Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
City Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
How's the three-day thing working out? Do you think it's more of a handicap to the attacker or defender? I'd guess it helps the attacker more, as the KB (or deathstar) can go through a lot of PBY (or Mavis) search coverage in three days.
I only pay against the AI and two days is great for that in saving time and as a bit of a handicap. Maybe next time I fire this up it'll be on three-day turns.
It's OK so far. Most of the time air units only fly 1 or 2 days out of the three due to weather so it's not so massively different as far as that goes.
That said, there's not much interesting going on right now, just the ground slog in the PI and Malaya. The computer will auto-switch LCU attacks from Deliberate to Bombardment if the odds aren't great so you don't have to worry about that.
Three day turns will likely be much more of an issue when we have some more intense two-sided battles. We will both really have to think about TF instructions for sure.
The game has just reached 1942. I will post more over the weekend.
An initial shock attack in day one of the three day turn could lead to trouble over the next two days since the shock attack does not change to deliberate or bombardment if the 1:1 or higher is met during the initial attack. If the attacker loses a lot on the first turn, then the second turn they can get all of their units trashed. It is also harder to regulate the timing of reinforcements with other units on the three day turns.
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
What you say is correct, but I really don't want this thread to become a discussion about the pros and cons of 3 day turns. As I said above the idea is to focus on the strategic/operational rather than the tactical.
Last edited by Captain Cruft on Sat Aug 10, 2024 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
In Malaya, he seems to have mostly abandoned the out-lying bases and is focusing on Singapore. The AVG is there, along with the B-17s which started at Clark Field.
; Julia Child
