This is probably going to be my last time playing this game, so I thought I would write an AAR on it. Included in this will be a lot of my age old tricks (since there will be no more updates to the game and Im not playing again, Im not going to keep them a secret anymore). I am playing both sides, since playing the computer in a campaign game is a total joke and playing against someone is always filled with "house rules" its probably easier this way. Note, I have almost always played this game as Japan, so my allied tricks arent as polished as my Japanese tricks. I am also playing version 26a (Jul 10 2016) as the latest version is a complete joke.
Realism options:
FOW on. AWE on. ADC on. PDU on. Historical first turn on. Surprise on. Reliable torps OFF. Realistic R&D on. No Unit withdrawls on. Fixed reinforcements.
Game options: Combat reports on. 2 day turns on. Everything else OFF.
Reasons:
FoW I will only react to what I can actually see on the map and by intell reports. Need FoW on to see what the other side knows.
PDU mainly because thats the only way I have ever played. I think it is true with most players (Im sure there are exceptions).
Historical 1st turn again is the only way I play the game. Too many BS scenarios otherwise (like Japan hitting Java on turn 1 where really the allies would see them coming and react to it).
Real R&D the only real effect is not being able to switch air factories from research planes to production planes back and forth. I play this both ways, and honestly by the way I do things after March 42 this doesnt matter. So the only real effect on this game will be the numbers of E16s I build in the first months of the war.
No unit withdrawls This has minimal effect on the Japanese. I do this to help the allied player as it allows them to save a good number of training squadrons and save a lot of precious aircraft early in the war.
2 day turns 2 reasons 1) it speeds up the game. A LOT. 2) it gives a little more uncertainly as to what is going to happen.
Also, China doesnt work well in this game, so I am not going to do anything here from either side except Hong Kong and Chinas 5th corps. Also the far north (for both sides) was just to keep an eye on each other on the lend lease ships going to the USSR for the most part, so this area is also a non-combat area.
Historical first turn and 2 day turns are the only way I ever play this game.
Dec 7-8 runs as you would expect. Japanese losses were the 5 mini subs at Pearl and 27 Zeros were downed by flak/op losses. All other losses were not worth reporting. Intell reports post turn reported PoW and Repulse sunk along with minor ships at Pearl and in the Phillipines. Actual allied losses were Tennessee and California (and DD Cummings) lost at Pearl and an AVD at Davao. PoW and Repulse both made it back to Singapore. A very bad start for Japan. 25 P40Bs and 19 PBY-5s were destroyed however.
Japans moves:
trick #1 The CS in Hiroshima is my workhorse. EVERY non BB/CA/CL naval scout unit passes through this unit. Units can relocate to it and change their unit size to 24 airplanes (except those with fixed times). Restricted units become unrestricted after landing on it. This only works for the Japanese (not allies) so I always considered it part of the game and I have never reported it as a bug. These squadrons I convert to 24 planes and begin training them in ASW from the start. I will eventually equip them all with E16s. You have to upgrade the squadrons 1 at a time. You move 1 squadron off, upgrade the remaining squadron, move it off, move another one on, upgrade it. You wont be able to move that just upgraded 2nd squadron off, but you can transfer the next truns upgrade on now. So in this way you can upgrade 2 squadrons a turn. Playing 2 day turns slows this process down significantly, but you will be waiting for airplanes anyways, so no real big deal.
trick #2 Just as the scout planes can become unrestricted by transferring to the CS without paying a PP charge, naval carrier aircraft can do the same thing by transferring to carriers (again, this doesnt work on the allied side so again I always considered it part of the game and didnt report it). Once the Akagi gets back to Truk I do the same with non-carrier assigned squadrons as I do with scout squadrons. I increase their sizes to 81 planes when I can (a lot of the Japanese squadrons have set dates when the can upgrade numbers of planes so these cant change). This allows you to get a lot of pilots into training very quickly. It also allows you to cover the whole map to minimize the ability of the allies to run carrier raids into the Japanese rear area like I have seen so many players try to do.
So Japans first move finds scout planes and IJN single engine planes all heading for either Truk or Hiroshima (I use the Hosho to unrestrict squadrons in Japan/China).
I set up 5 carrier groups 4 of which will eventually become 2 CVs 1 CVL, 1 BB (Kongo class), 3 CAs (the higher AA classes), 1 CS, and 6 Fubuki DDs and 1 Yugumo DD (15 ships) each (one of the 4 uses 2 CAs (AA type) and the CAs Tone and Chikuma in place of its CS). The other carrier group will have the CVEs.
3 BB groups of 2 BBs, 2 CAs, and a gaggle of DDs. 1 operates out of Cam Rahn Bay (moves to Singapore after it falls), 1 in Java after it falls,a nd 1 in Rabul. The 2 remaining CAs and the CLs Kitakami and Oi form a 4th "BB group" and goes where needed.
I form 5 CL groups of 3 CLs and 5-8 DDs each and use them to hunt fleeing transports initially. And 3 DD groups are also formed of 8-12 DDs.
And then various assembly points for various ships to start optimizing my supply convoys are set up.
trick #3 I change the HQs of a few units to 11th Air (66th Infantry group, and the Guard brigade as well as a few engineer units that have an attack strength) and use these to capture key bases. There are a few Japanese bomber (G4M) and patrol (H6K) units that are perm restricted. You cant release these units by tricks. These units would be confined to Japan/Formosa, but when you capture an enemy base, that bases HQ changes to the HQ of the unit that captured it. So if you change the Guard to 11th air (which is an unrestricted HQ attached to "General Defense") and use it to capture Rabaul, then Rabaul is now a "General Defense" base and these "restricted" units can base there. You can also land an 11th air engineer unit at a friendly dot base and convert it to General Defense for 0 cost to base your patrol planes at, or expand it into a normal base. So I capture Wake, Guam, Rabaul, Lunga, ect ect ect with THESE units to allow them to base units there. I also make a chain of islands so I can transport ground units like the 1st air division and 11th air flot out of Japan to where they will be more useful (Ha Ha Jima to Guam to Satawal to Rabaul to Lunga for example). This trick DOES work for the allies as well, so I do the same thing there. Move an Asiatic fleet unit (FFE command) to a dot in the Ambon area and another coastal dot in Australia and fly the perma-restricted engineers out of the P.I. to Australia using PBYs. Depending on the speed of Japan on Luzon, I can often get the 7th Marine and 31st infantry regt out even. Change a few bases in northern Australia to ABDA and you can fly out almost the entire Dutch airforce. You can also pull Malayan units out of Malaya doing this, but these units arent worth saving really. I do a little more with a variation of the is trick later for releasing units from Korea and China.
Japan also forms invasion groups for northern Luzon and northern Davao in the P.I, northwestern Borneo, a new Wake force (the 66th infantry group out of Japan) a new Guam force (the Guards out of Japan). Landing forces that were at sea at start are re-routed. And this pretty much ends the Japanese 1st turn. It took me 4 days.
The allied first turn is much easier. Monty Python defense. Everything just tries to run away. I disband most of the air units in the P.I. to save the planes. The little damage they might do isnt worth the loss of the planes. Because of the game options of PDUs on and no withdrawls the allies restricted units that have "good" airplanes can be swapped out (B-17Es for B-10s for example). PBYs begin making their way to Australia to help with the P.I. evacuation. AVPs and AVDs are being sent to the stepping-stone dot bases that the allies will use to pull out. Some Dutch base forces are changed to ABDA and loaded into amphib TFs for movement to Australia. Supplies and fuel is loaded in the NEI and USA and routed to Australia. The PoW and Repulse were put into pierside repair by the computer when they arrived at Singapore so these are put in ready and will have to wait 3 days (2 game turns) to try to ship them out. A Brit CL force is built and sent (with land based Buffalos as cover) and sent to patrol off NW Borneo as well as a Dutch TF out of Java in case I am stupid enough to try to grab it early. This is to secure my Malaya evacuation. A group of warships from Sydney New Zealand, and the French DD are sent to Rabaul. And both sides assign sub patrol areas.
I dont know how far I will get before I get bored with this and quit, but lets see what happens....
The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
Re: The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
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Last edited by PaxMondo on Sun Nov 17, 2024 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Pax
Re: The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
Dec 9 combat
No real big surprises, but some small ones.
2 sub attacks near Pearl on an AG, no effect.
AMs leaving Manila clearing mines at Bataan. I form 5 individual AM forces and make sure they are the first to leave. All 5 were later killed by a CL/DD force north of Palawan.
PTs were engaged by several different DDs and CLs on the NW side of Luzon in the morning phase. 2 PTs lost. I sent 3 groups of 3 PTs (1 to each base) on the NW side of Luzon.
More troops unload at Kota Bharu and landings begin on Aparri and Tarawa.
The 3 escaping DDs from Hong Kong were engaged several times by 3 TBs, 1 CL 4 DD group (that heavy damaged the Thracian which was later engaged alone by 2 TBs and heavy fires and finally sunk by CA Maya. TB Kiji was left with heavy fires.
Langly was sunk by I-123 near Roxas.
CVL Ryujo (operating alone in the Sulu Sea) was attacked 11times by the 4 US DDs out of Manila over the 2 day turn. 12 hits total were scored on Ryujo and the attacks chased the Ryujo all the way back to the Philippine Sea.
Naval and air attacks on the merchant ships fleeing Hong Kong. I did something I NEVER do and that is I put them in "normal" mode instead of "direct" and the computer funneled them all through the same area where they were decimated. Lesson learned. Normally I send them as single ships in "absolute" along different paths and usually manage to get a few out. This pretty much looked like my normal Japanese slaughter of them.
Air attacks on Gerogetown, Alor Star, Hong Kong, Victoria Point, Kuantan (destroyed 1 Blenheim on the ground here - it was damaged and I couldnt get it out), and Manila (port, airbase, and ships in port - I left some ships loading fuel in port - figured the ships would be lost anyway and it would be better to destroy some fuel with them at least).
First raid on Rangoon. 17 Sallys with 16 Zero escort engages 18 AVG Chinese aircraft. 2 Zeros and 1 Sally lost (3 Sallys damaged) for minor hits on the airbase. AVG was at 25,000 ft (expecting a fighter sweep) and the attack was at 6,000.
30 Nells raid Singkawang in NW Borneo and were intercepted by 12 Dutch fighters damaging a Nell for minor hits on the airfield.
I have to make special note of this one: 15 Idas raided Hong Kong in SEVERE STORMS in the afternoon phase and managed 3 port hits and 1 port fuel hit.
Afternoon raid on Rangoon didnt go well. 5 Bettys escorted by 6 Zeros engaged 16 H-81s of the AVG and 4 Zeros and 2 Bettys were lost (plus 1 damaged).
SS KXV sank a loaded transport (likely heading for Bangkok) near Soc Trang.
Kota Bharu and Tarawa fall.
Dec 10 combat
DD Thracian and DD Scout sunk by CA Maya.
SS 36 attacked 4 DMSs near Laoag for no effect.
6 DMSs engaged 3 PTs at Laoag and 1 DMS was sunk.
SS KXV attacks and AP near Cam Rhan Bay and misses.
2 PTs disrupt 3 different landing groups at Aparri.
I-155 hits and I-154 sinks a loaded AKL near Pontianak in NW Borneo.
Air attacks on Gerogetown, Alor Star, Hong Kong, Victoria Point, Kuantan, and Manila again.
36 Nells raid Singkawang again losing 4 and 1 damaged to 8 B-339s.
Afternoon attacks on Hong Kong are in partly cloudy skys.
16 Bettys raid the port at Guam.
After being chased half way across the map CVL Ryujo launches a strike of B5N1s against the DDs chasing it intercepted by 6 P-26s for no effect.
And finally more landings on Aparri.
Japanese player turn
Looking at the damage to the Japanese is the real surprise. CVL Ryujo only has 15 sys, 4 fl, and 3 eng damage after being engaged that much. She did put some minor hits on the DDs but not much. I am going to be interested to see how much ammo the DDs have left. Ryujo is going to head to Japan for repairs. trick #4 at least against the AI, if a force (be it an air group, sub, surface force, ect) is "locked on" to one of your TFs (like these DDs are with the Ryujo), simply re-numbering the TF will often break this "lock". The Ryujo was TF 352, it is now TF 96.
TB Kiji has 73 sys damage and a level 77 fire. She is 2 hexes from Takao and her speed is an amazing 16 knots so she will likely make it to port, but will likely burn up and sink there eventually. She isnt worth enough points to bother scuttling so will just watch and see how long she lasts.
A Jap AK with part of the Singkawang landing force is 4 squares away and air recon shows 2 TFs of CLs and DDs waiting there. The landing forces for those 4 bases on NW Borneo have been recalled to Cam Ranh Bay until Battle Division 6 arrives to chase them out. I dont want to risk the 2 Kongo class BBs that are in the area, they are needed for carrier escort.
Air attacks on Rangoon are going to be suspended until total air control over Malaya is established and I can divert additional air to Burma. Air recon flights over every base in Malaya show the entire air force relocated to Singapore (50 some fighters and 30 some bombers). Fighter sweeps by Oscars and Zeros will begin from the newly captured Kota Bahru.
The Yokosuka 3rd (airborne) is changing to 11 air and will begin dropping on various bases in the P.I. to capture them for "General Defense" bases. Some players think that using elements of airborne units to capture undefended bases is gamey but it really isnt to a point. Yes, using 1 airborne squad to capture say Manila I would say is gamey (but then if you leave it open, whos fault is it?), but the smaller islands and isolated bases it is not. The Japanese captured the bulk of the NEI in just this manner, especially the islands in the eastern NEI. They dropped single squads and platoons on most of these to secure them.
Massive resource convoys are being prepared to bring resources from Port Arthur to Tokyo and from Hakodate to Osaka.
Allied player turn
Enterprise and Lexington are both clear of the Jap carriers (last seen retiring toward Truk probably escorting the oiler TF) and are both north of Midway. Lexington took on most of the Wildcats from Wake. Saratoga is west of San Francisco. All 3 are to meet at Dutch Harbor.
The 4 DDs from Manila all have at least 1 gun and some have 2 guns out of ammo, but all 4 have some guns at full ammo (3 of them have 1 empty torp battery as well but all 4 have at least 1 full), so I suspect they would continue to pursue because they have ammo, and then disengage because they are out of ammo. For this reason I am sending them back to Java.
All ships from Hong Kong have been sunk. Most of the ships from Manila are away and in the southern part of the Sulu Sea with no enemy ships in sight other than 1 TF north of Palawan. There are still a few still in Manila Bay loading. These will likely die in the coming turn.
This was a surprise (and technically a bug). The Prince of Wales and Repulse are available for movement. They should have been locked for 3 days. I say "technically" because I personally never agreed with them being locked for more than 1 day. Never seemed to be a logical reason for it, just the whim of 1 of the Devs (probably Don) was my assumption.
31st, 35th, and 51st fighter groups along with 22nd bomb group begin loading at San Diego. 7th and remaining portions of 19th bomb groups (B-17D and Es) fly to Pearl. 18th fighter group at Pearl fully equipped with P-40Bs (130 a/c) and begin loading.
No real big surprises, but some small ones.
2 sub attacks near Pearl on an AG, no effect.
AMs leaving Manila clearing mines at Bataan. I form 5 individual AM forces and make sure they are the first to leave. All 5 were later killed by a CL/DD force north of Palawan.
PTs were engaged by several different DDs and CLs on the NW side of Luzon in the morning phase. 2 PTs lost. I sent 3 groups of 3 PTs (1 to each base) on the NW side of Luzon.
More troops unload at Kota Bharu and landings begin on Aparri and Tarawa.
The 3 escaping DDs from Hong Kong were engaged several times by 3 TBs, 1 CL 4 DD group (that heavy damaged the Thracian which was later engaged alone by 2 TBs and heavy fires and finally sunk by CA Maya. TB Kiji was left with heavy fires.
Langly was sunk by I-123 near Roxas.
CVL Ryujo (operating alone in the Sulu Sea) was attacked 11times by the 4 US DDs out of Manila over the 2 day turn. 12 hits total were scored on Ryujo and the attacks chased the Ryujo all the way back to the Philippine Sea.
Naval and air attacks on the merchant ships fleeing Hong Kong. I did something I NEVER do and that is I put them in "normal" mode instead of "direct" and the computer funneled them all through the same area where they were decimated. Lesson learned. Normally I send them as single ships in "absolute" along different paths and usually manage to get a few out. This pretty much looked like my normal Japanese slaughter of them.
Air attacks on Gerogetown, Alor Star, Hong Kong, Victoria Point, Kuantan (destroyed 1 Blenheim on the ground here - it was damaged and I couldnt get it out), and Manila (port, airbase, and ships in port - I left some ships loading fuel in port - figured the ships would be lost anyway and it would be better to destroy some fuel with them at least).
First raid on Rangoon. 17 Sallys with 16 Zero escort engages 18 AVG Chinese aircraft. 2 Zeros and 1 Sally lost (3 Sallys damaged) for minor hits on the airbase. AVG was at 25,000 ft (expecting a fighter sweep) and the attack was at 6,000.
30 Nells raid Singkawang in NW Borneo and were intercepted by 12 Dutch fighters damaging a Nell for minor hits on the airfield.
I have to make special note of this one: 15 Idas raided Hong Kong in SEVERE STORMS in the afternoon phase and managed 3 port hits and 1 port fuel hit.
Afternoon raid on Rangoon didnt go well. 5 Bettys escorted by 6 Zeros engaged 16 H-81s of the AVG and 4 Zeros and 2 Bettys were lost (plus 1 damaged).
SS KXV sank a loaded transport (likely heading for Bangkok) near Soc Trang.
Kota Bharu and Tarawa fall.
Dec 10 combat
DD Thracian and DD Scout sunk by CA Maya.
SS 36 attacked 4 DMSs near Laoag for no effect.
6 DMSs engaged 3 PTs at Laoag and 1 DMS was sunk.
SS KXV attacks and AP near Cam Rhan Bay and misses.
2 PTs disrupt 3 different landing groups at Aparri.
I-155 hits and I-154 sinks a loaded AKL near Pontianak in NW Borneo.
Air attacks on Gerogetown, Alor Star, Hong Kong, Victoria Point, Kuantan, and Manila again.
36 Nells raid Singkawang again losing 4 and 1 damaged to 8 B-339s.
Afternoon attacks on Hong Kong are in partly cloudy skys.
16 Bettys raid the port at Guam.
After being chased half way across the map CVL Ryujo launches a strike of B5N1s against the DDs chasing it intercepted by 6 P-26s for no effect.
And finally more landings on Aparri.
Japanese player turn
Looking at the damage to the Japanese is the real surprise. CVL Ryujo only has 15 sys, 4 fl, and 3 eng damage after being engaged that much. She did put some minor hits on the DDs but not much. I am going to be interested to see how much ammo the DDs have left. Ryujo is going to head to Japan for repairs. trick #4 at least against the AI, if a force (be it an air group, sub, surface force, ect) is "locked on" to one of your TFs (like these DDs are with the Ryujo), simply re-numbering the TF will often break this "lock". The Ryujo was TF 352, it is now TF 96.
TB Kiji has 73 sys damage and a level 77 fire. She is 2 hexes from Takao and her speed is an amazing 16 knots so she will likely make it to port, but will likely burn up and sink there eventually. She isnt worth enough points to bother scuttling so will just watch and see how long she lasts.
A Jap AK with part of the Singkawang landing force is 4 squares away and air recon shows 2 TFs of CLs and DDs waiting there. The landing forces for those 4 bases on NW Borneo have been recalled to Cam Ranh Bay until Battle Division 6 arrives to chase them out. I dont want to risk the 2 Kongo class BBs that are in the area, they are needed for carrier escort.
Air attacks on Rangoon are going to be suspended until total air control over Malaya is established and I can divert additional air to Burma. Air recon flights over every base in Malaya show the entire air force relocated to Singapore (50 some fighters and 30 some bombers). Fighter sweeps by Oscars and Zeros will begin from the newly captured Kota Bahru.
The Yokosuka 3rd (airborne) is changing to 11 air and will begin dropping on various bases in the P.I. to capture them for "General Defense" bases. Some players think that using elements of airborne units to capture undefended bases is gamey but it really isnt to a point. Yes, using 1 airborne squad to capture say Manila I would say is gamey (but then if you leave it open, whos fault is it?), but the smaller islands and isolated bases it is not. The Japanese captured the bulk of the NEI in just this manner, especially the islands in the eastern NEI. They dropped single squads and platoons on most of these to secure them.
Massive resource convoys are being prepared to bring resources from Port Arthur to Tokyo and from Hakodate to Osaka.
Allied player turn
Enterprise and Lexington are both clear of the Jap carriers (last seen retiring toward Truk probably escorting the oiler TF) and are both north of Midway. Lexington took on most of the Wildcats from Wake. Saratoga is west of San Francisco. All 3 are to meet at Dutch Harbor.
The 4 DDs from Manila all have at least 1 gun and some have 2 guns out of ammo, but all 4 have some guns at full ammo (3 of them have 1 empty torp battery as well but all 4 have at least 1 full), so I suspect they would continue to pursue because they have ammo, and then disengage because they are out of ammo. For this reason I am sending them back to Java.
All ships from Hong Kong have been sunk. Most of the ships from Manila are away and in the southern part of the Sulu Sea with no enemy ships in sight other than 1 TF north of Palawan. There are still a few still in Manila Bay loading. These will likely die in the coming turn.
This was a surprise (and technically a bug). The Prince of Wales and Repulse are available for movement. They should have been locked for 3 days. I say "technically" because I personally never agreed with them being locked for more than 1 day. Never seemed to be a logical reason for it, just the whim of 1 of the Devs (probably Don) was my assumption.
31st, 35th, and 51st fighter groups along with 22nd bomb group begin loading at San Diego. 7th and remaining portions of 19th bomb groups (B-17D and Es) fly to Pearl. 18th fighter group at Pearl fully equipped with P-40Bs (130 a/c) and begin loading.
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anarchyintheuk
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Re: The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
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Re: The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
Combat 11 Dec
The 4 US DDs bump into CVL Ryujo 1 last time as they both go their separate ways. No effect.
Several skirmishes between CL/DD groups and PTs off the north side of Luzon. 5 PTs sunk total over 2 days. 1 group was engaged several times and driven almost all the way to Hong Kong.
Several CL/DD engagements in the Sulu Sea with AKLs fleeing south.
The 4 US DDs strike again engaging CL Kashii near Siquijor at 17,000 yds putting 7 hits on her, return fire results in 1 hit on DD Pope.
Fighter sweeps begin at Singapore. First engagement 15 Zeros v 46 Buffalos. 1 Zero for 4 Buffs. 30 Oscar IBs v 20 Buffs. 1 Oscar for 2 Buffs. 2 Zeros v 2 Buffs. No effect. Remaining sweeps on this day not engaged.
Air strikes at Georgetown, Alor Star, Victoria Point, and Kuantan.
Fighter sweep at Rangoon 25 Oscar IBs v 16 AVG H-81s. 2 Chinese for 1 Jap.
Raids on Hong Kong, Manila, Clark Field, and Bataan.
Landings at Hollandia and the 2 bases on New Ireland north of Rabaul.
Landings at Iba by several TFs.
Land units begin bombarding Hong Kong.
Several airborne attacks. Yellow arrows are small squad size attacks by the 3rd Yokosuka. Black arrow is a drop by the entire 1st Yokosuka that attacked the defending Phil bn and took the base. Blue arrow is the Iba landings.
Combat 12 Dec
BB Kongo, BB Haruna, and 7 DDs sank a loaded AP south of Davao.
Fighter sweeps at Singapore 19 Oscar IAs v 16 Buffs. 2 Oscars lost. 27 Oscar IBs v 6 Buffs. 1 Buffalo lost. Remaining sweeps not engaged.
Fighter sweep over Rangoon (severe storms) 21 Oscar IBs v 12 AVG. I H-81 lost.
Raids on Alor Star, Victoria Point, Kuantan, Manila, Clark, Bataan, and Hong Kong.
6 Hudsons attacked 2 AKLs at Ternate. Landings followed.
Landings at Surigao in NE Mindinao.
Landings at Narau Island. Attacked and captured.
Japanese player turn
Shockingly TB Kiji survived the level 77 fire. She is in Takao with 81 sys and 37 eng damage and the fires are OUT. She will be moving to Pescadores for repairs.
Japanese sub patrols off Pearl: 6 on the NE side and 4 on the SW side.
Had to wait a few turns for the supplies to even out so I could start messing with production. Expanded HI production by quite a bit and started setting up air factories. Ran some bases out of supplies doing it, so will have to finish next turn. Will also set engine factories next turn as well.
5 divisions (plus airbases and an air HQ) heading for Babeladob for what has been described to me by a former opponent as "the Packer sweep". I run down to Timor (grabbing all bases with an airfield >0 enroute) and then sweep up to Java. This is to cut off the allied forces and minimize the forces going to Australia. The 55th division is almost there now, but they are currently loaded in transport mode, so I have to unload, and reload them first. The 2nd, 4th, 21st, and 33rd are also headed that way.
Allied player turn
Biggest surprise here was the numbers of allied air losses in the combat phase. 21 Buffalos and 10 AVG H-81s were lost. And the speed of the Japanese advance in Malaya. Units (armored) have already entered Alor Star and the hex south of it. I had a HQ heading to Alor Star to have them killed (bad commander and not worth PPs to change him) but they only made it to the hex south of it, so Alor Star is vacant. 27th Australian and 12th Brit brigades along with 1 of the air HQs and some bomber units start loading in Singapore for movement to Perth. 2nd def bn and the 8th marines start loading for Pago Pago at San Diego. The Australian cruisers have arrived in the Solomon Sea and will meet up with the French DD and CL Adelaide next turn and begin patrols around New Ireland and New Britain. More evacuations by Dutch base forces in the NEI.
The 3 carrier groups will meet up next turn and make their way back towards Pearl.
The 4 US DDs bump into CVL Ryujo 1 last time as they both go their separate ways. No effect.
Several skirmishes between CL/DD groups and PTs off the north side of Luzon. 5 PTs sunk total over 2 days. 1 group was engaged several times and driven almost all the way to Hong Kong.
Several CL/DD engagements in the Sulu Sea with AKLs fleeing south.
The 4 US DDs strike again engaging CL Kashii near Siquijor at 17,000 yds putting 7 hits on her, return fire results in 1 hit on DD Pope.
Fighter sweeps begin at Singapore. First engagement 15 Zeros v 46 Buffalos. 1 Zero for 4 Buffs. 30 Oscar IBs v 20 Buffs. 1 Oscar for 2 Buffs. 2 Zeros v 2 Buffs. No effect. Remaining sweeps on this day not engaged.
Air strikes at Georgetown, Alor Star, Victoria Point, and Kuantan.
Fighter sweep at Rangoon 25 Oscar IBs v 16 AVG H-81s. 2 Chinese for 1 Jap.
Raids on Hong Kong, Manila, Clark Field, and Bataan.
Landings at Hollandia and the 2 bases on New Ireland north of Rabaul.
Landings at Iba by several TFs.
Land units begin bombarding Hong Kong.
Several airborne attacks. Yellow arrows are small squad size attacks by the 3rd Yokosuka. Black arrow is a drop by the entire 1st Yokosuka that attacked the defending Phil bn and took the base. Blue arrow is the Iba landings.
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Combat 12 Dec
BB Kongo, BB Haruna, and 7 DDs sank a loaded AP south of Davao.
Fighter sweeps at Singapore 19 Oscar IAs v 16 Buffs. 2 Oscars lost. 27 Oscar IBs v 6 Buffs. 1 Buffalo lost. Remaining sweeps not engaged.
Fighter sweep over Rangoon (severe storms) 21 Oscar IBs v 12 AVG. I H-81 lost.
Raids on Alor Star, Victoria Point, Kuantan, Manila, Clark, Bataan, and Hong Kong.
6 Hudsons attacked 2 AKLs at Ternate. Landings followed.
Landings at Surigao in NE Mindinao.
Landings at Narau Island. Attacked and captured.
Japanese player turn
Shockingly TB Kiji survived the level 77 fire. She is in Takao with 81 sys and 37 eng damage and the fires are OUT. She will be moving to Pescadores for repairs.
Japanese sub patrols off Pearl: 6 on the NE side and 4 on the SW side.
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5 divisions (plus airbases and an air HQ) heading for Babeladob for what has been described to me by a former opponent as "the Packer sweep". I run down to Timor (grabbing all bases with an airfield >0 enroute) and then sweep up to Java. This is to cut off the allied forces and minimize the forces going to Australia. The 55th division is almost there now, but they are currently loaded in transport mode, so I have to unload, and reload them first. The 2nd, 4th, 21st, and 33rd are also headed that way.
Allied player turn
Biggest surprise here was the numbers of allied air losses in the combat phase. 21 Buffalos and 10 AVG H-81s were lost. And the speed of the Japanese advance in Malaya. Units (armored) have already entered Alor Star and the hex south of it. I had a HQ heading to Alor Star to have them killed (bad commander and not worth PPs to change him) but they only made it to the hex south of it, so Alor Star is vacant. 27th Australian and 12th Brit brigades along with 1 of the air HQs and some bomber units start loading in Singapore for movement to Perth. 2nd def bn and the 8th marines start loading for Pago Pago at San Diego. The Australian cruisers have arrived in the Solomon Sea and will meet up with the French DD and CL Adelaide next turn and begin patrols around New Ireland and New Britain. More evacuations by Dutch base forces in the NEI.
The 3 carrier groups will meet up next turn and make their way back towards Pearl.
Last edited by Meaneye on Sun Nov 17, 2024 7:08 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Re: The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
Stunning to say the least. I don't think I have ever had this good of luck. CONGRATS!!!!Meaneye wrote: Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:18 am
Shockingly TB Kiji survived the level 77 fire. She is in Takao with 81 sys and 37 eng damage and the fires are OUT.
Pax
Re: The last hurrah - Yamato hugger v Yamato hugger
Whoa Yamato Hugger thanks for the tips. What happened to your old forum name and why is this your last time playing? Sad to see so many old vets go...Meaneye wrote: Wed Nov 13, 2024 3:31 pm This is probably going to be my last time playing this game, so I thought I would write an AAR on it. Included in this will be a lot of my age old tricks (since there will be no more updates to the game and Im not playing again, Im not going to keep them a secret anymore). I am playing both sides, since playing the computer in a campaign game is a total joke and playing against someone is always filled with "house rules" its probably easier this way. Note, I have almost always played this game as Japan, so my allied tricks arent as polished as my Japanese tricks. I am also playing version 26a (Jul 10 2016) as the latest version is a complete joke.
Realism options:
FOW on. AWE on. ADC on. PDU on. Historical first turn on. Surprise on. Reliable torps OFF. Realistic R&D on. No Unit withdrawls on. Fixed reinforcements.
Game options: Combat reports on. 2 day turns on. Everything else OFF.
Reasons:
FoW I will only react to what I can actually see on the map and by intell reports. Need FoW on to see what the other side knows.
PDU mainly because thats the only way I have ever played. I think it is true with most players (Im sure there are exceptions).
Historical 1st turn again is the only way I play the game. Too many BS scenarios otherwise (like Japan hitting Java on turn 1 where really the allies would see them coming and react to it).
Real R&D the only real effect is not being able to switch air factories from research planes to production planes back and forth. I play this both ways, and honestly by the way I do things after March 42 this doesnt matter. So the only real effect on this game will be the numbers of E16s I build in the first months of the war.
No unit withdrawls This has minimal effect on the Japanese. I do this to help the allied player as it allows them to save a good number of training squadrons and save a lot of precious aircraft early in the war.
2 day turns 2 reasons 1) it speeds up the game. A LOT. 2) it gives a little more uncertainly as to what is going to happen.
Also, China doesnt work well in this game, so I am not going to do anything here from either side except Hong Kong and Chinas 5th corps. Also the far north (for both sides) was just to keep an eye on each other on the lend lease ships going to the USSR for the most part, so this area is also a non-combat area.
Historical first turn and 2 day turns are the only way I ever play this game.
Dec 7-8 runs as you would expect. Japanese losses were the 5 mini subs at Pearl and 27 Zeros were downed by flak/op losses. All other losses were not worth reporting. Intell reports post turn reported PoW and Repulse sunk along with minor ships at Pearl and in the Phillipines. Actual allied losses were Tennessee and California (and DD Cummings) lost at Pearl and an AVD at Davao. PoW and Repulse both made it back to Singapore. A very bad start for Japan. 25 P40Bs and 19 PBY-5s were destroyed however.
Japans moves:
trick #1 The CS in Hiroshima is my workhorse. EVERY non BB/CA/CL naval scout unit passes through this unit. Units can relocate to it and change their unit size to 24 airplanes (except those with fixed times). Restricted units become unrestricted after landing on it. This only works for the Japanese (not allies) so I always considered it part of the game and I have never reported it as a bug. These squadrons I convert to 24 planes and begin training them in ASW from the start. I will eventually equip them all with E16s. You have to upgrade the squadrons 1 at a time. You move 1 squadron off, upgrade the remaining squadron, move it off, move another one on, upgrade it. You wont be able to move that just upgraded 2nd squadron off, but you can transfer the next truns upgrade on now. So in this way you can upgrade 2 squadrons a turn. Playing 2 day turns slows this process down significantly, but you will be waiting for airplanes anyways, so no real big deal.
trick #2 Just as the scout planes can become unrestricted by transferring to the CS without paying a PP charge, naval carrier aircraft can do the same thing by transferring to carriers (again, this doesnt work on the allied side so again I always considered it part of the game and didnt report it). Once the Akagi gets back to Truk I do the same with non-carrier assigned squadrons as I do with scout squadrons. I increase their sizes to 81 planes when I can (a lot of the Japanese squadrons have set dates when the can upgrade numbers of planes so these cant change). This allows you to get a lot of pilots into training very quickly. It also allows you to cover the whole map to minimize the ability of the allies to run carrier raids into the Japanese rear area like I have seen so many players try to do.
So Japans first move finds scout planes and IJN single engine planes all heading for either Truk or Hiroshima (I use the Hosho to unrestrict squadrons in Japan/China).
I set up 5 carrier groups 4 of which will eventually become 2 CVs 1 CVL, 1 BB (Kongo class), 3 CAs (the higher AA classes), 1 CS, and 6 Fubuki DDs and 1 Yugumo DD (15 ships) each (one of the 4 uses 2 CAs (AA type) and the CAs Tone and Chikuma in place of its CS). The other carrier group will have the CVEs.
3 BB groups of 2 BBs, 2 CAs, and a gaggle of DDs. 1 operates out of Cam Rahn Bay (moves to Singapore after it falls), 1 in Java after it falls,a nd 1 in Rabul. The 2 remaining CAs and the CLs Kitakami and Oi form a 4th "BB group" and goes where needed.
I form 5 CL groups of 3 CLs and 5-8 DDs each and use them to hunt fleeing transports initially. And 3 DD groups are also formed of 8-12 DDs.
And then various assembly points for various ships to start optimizing my supply convoys are set up.
trick #3 I change the HQs of a few units to 11th Air (66th Infantry group, and the Guard brigade as well as a few engineer units that have an attack strength) and use these to capture key bases. There are a few Japanese bomber (G4M) and patrol (H6K) units that are perm restricted. You cant release these units by tricks. These units would be confined to Japan/Formosa, but when you capture an enemy base, that bases HQ changes to the HQ of the unit that captured it. So if you change the Guard to 11th air (which is an unrestricted HQ attached to "General Defense") and use it to capture Rabaul, then Rabaul is now a "General Defense" base and these "restricted" units can base there. You can also land an 11th air engineer unit at a friendly dot base and convert it to General Defense for 0 cost to base your patrol planes at, or expand it into a normal base. So I capture Wake, Guam, Rabaul, Lunga, ect ect ect with THESE units to allow them to base units there. I also make a chain of islands so I can transport ground units like the 1st air division and 11th air flot out of Japan to where they will be more useful (Ha Ha Jima to Guam to Satawal to Rabaul to Lunga for example). This trick DOES work for the allies as well, so I do the same thing there. Move an Asiatic fleet unit (FFE command) to a dot in the Ambon area and another coastal dot in Australia and fly the perma-restricted engineers out of the P.I. to Australia using PBYs. Depending on the speed of Japan on Luzon, I can often get the 7th Marine and 31st infantry regt out even. Change a few bases in northern Australia to ABDA and you can fly out almost the entire Dutch airforce. You can also pull Malayan units out of Malaya doing this, but these units arent worth saving really. I do a little more with a variation of the is trick later for releasing units from Korea and China.
Japan also forms invasion groups for northern Luzon and northern Davao in the P.I, northwestern Borneo, a new Wake force (the 66th infantry group out of Japan) a new Guam force (the Guards out of Japan). Landing forces that were at sea at start are re-routed. And this pretty much ends the Japanese 1st turn. It took me 4 days.
The allied first turn is much easier. Monty Python defense. Everything just tries to run away. I disband most of the air units in the P.I. to save the planes. The little damage they might do isnt worth the loss of the planes. Because of the game options of PDUs on and no withdrawls the allies restricted units that have "good" airplanes can be swapped out (B-17Es for B-10s for example). PBYs begin making their way to Australia to help with the P.I. evacuation. AVPs and AVDs are being sent to the stepping-stone dot bases that the allies will use to pull out. Some Dutch base forces are changed to ABDA and loaded into amphib TFs for movement to Australia. Supplies and fuel is loaded in the NEI and USA and routed to Australia. The PoW and Repulse were put into pierside repair by the computer when they arrived at Singapore so these are put in ready and will have to wait 3 days (2 game turns) to try to ship them out. A Brit CL force is built and sent (with land based Buffalos as cover) and sent to patrol off NW Borneo as well as a Dutch TF out of Java in case I am stupid enough to try to grab it early. This is to secure my Malaya evacuation. A group of warships from Sydney New Zealand, and the French DD are sent to Rabaul. And both sides assign sub patrol areas.
I dont know how far I will get before I get bored with this and quit, but lets see what happens....
